Michael Dempsey
21 Aug 2026Router Wars | Callosum $100M | AI Cancer Cures | OpenAI CFO IPO Plans
Michael Dempsey (Compound): 'Dear VCs, Just Give Up'
Compound's Michael Dempsey explains the genesis of his satirical essay 'Dear VCs, Just Give Up,' written during the firm's writing week (an essay a day from every team member), arguing that investing is supposed to be hard and that VC existential dread stems from echo chambers and 'model collapse' in tech conviction. He details Compound's thesis-driven, research-first approach — multi-step, second- and third-order projections now that ChatGPT has commoditized paper explanations — and his band-of-outcomes view on price, including sitting out 18 months after raising in 2021. He also covers how he communicates that patience to LPs and the founder traits he backs: high learning rate, competency at the edges of the industry, and storytelling.
Fractile in Talks to Raise ~$600M at $6.5B Valuation
The hosts close on Bloomberg's report that UK inference-chip startup Fractile, after a deal to supply Anthropic, is in talks to raise ~$600M at a $6.5B pre-money valuation — over six times its May round — with Lightspeed and Redpoint set to co-lead and Thrive and Founders Fund also involved. They frame it as the third big UK chip story in recent weeks after Callosum's $100M seed and Olix's $312M raise, and note they've been trying to book Fractile's growth lead Tom on the show. They recap founder Walter Goodwin's Oxford robotics background and Fractile's focus on speeding up inference beyond chatbots, including drug and materials discovery.
Moderna Cancer Vaccine News: Shares Double on Melanoma Trial
After wrapping news of growing capital flowing into AI startups, the hosts turn to Moderna: its experimental mRNA cancer vaccine with Merck's Keytruda succeeded in a study of high-risk melanoma patients, cutting recurrence and spread, and the stock doubled overnight with Merck hitting an all-time high. They note the result could open the $240B cancer drug market for Moderna as COVID vaccine sales fall — 'we are now an oncology company,' says CEO Stéphane Bancel — and joke about the AI-in-drug-discovery angle before bringing on an expert.