Betting on Reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour: ACCESS
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, everyone. This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network, and I'm Kara Swisher. We're off for the holiday today, but we have something good for you, an episode of Access with Alex Heath and Ellis Hamburger. In this episode, Alex and Ellis talk about the rise of storytelling in tech and why X is now openly pleading for its haters to come back. As if. Then they sit down with Tarek Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, to discuss insider trading, his rivalry with PolyMarket, regulatory chaos, sports betting, and why prediction markets are having a real moment. Enjoy, and we'll be back in your feeds later this week.
You recently made a comment that went kind of viral. I think you got a lot of heat for it. You said you want to financialize everything. Do you really mean that?
Why'd you scare my grandma with that comment?
If you believe that markets work, what they do is they discover prices. But what if we applied it to some of the most important pressing questions about our future?
Should you be able to bet on anything?
What is the significance of storytelling in tech?
Kalshi is one of the fastest growing companies on earth, and it lets you do exactly that. They fought the government and won, raised billions of dollars, and are in the middle of a fierce rivalry with Polymarket to win the prediction market race.
A power shift is brewing in the sports betting world.
What does this mean for sports betting and the gaming stocks? This week on the show, we have Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. We talk about insider trading, why Kalshi employees aren't allowed to use Kalshi, what he thinks of Polymarket, and his controversial comment about wanting to financialize everything. But first, Ellis and I talk about the rise of storytelling in tech and why X is pleading for its haters to return to the platform. This is Access. Ellis, how's it going, my friend? I'm well. How about you? I'm good. We've got a lot to talk about today. We've got Tarek Mansour on the show, the CEO of Kalshi. But first, Ellis, I've been noticing that everyone seems to have FOMO about what you do, about being a quote-unquote storyteller, that storytelling is the hot new thing.
According to the Wall Street Journal, at least, they had a big story. Was it yesterday? Talking about the rise of the storyteller and, frankly, the decline of reporters.
Yeah.
How did that feel? Going from earned media to maybe we'd call it invented media, co-created media, masturbatory corporate media, one of the above.
Take your pick. This was one of those stories that got viral screenshotted on X by a bunch of people we both follow in the tech world. Everyone, you know, glamping on about their savvy media strategy that they have. And I just think it's kind of interesting that this is becoming a a hot topic and i think it kind of signals where everyone's head is at that in an age of infinite ai everything and products that all kind of do the same thing maybe the thing that matters is how you talk about your company i don't know you're the professional you tell me
humanity have never been more important. What we need is storytelling. I mean, to me, it's nothing new. I feel like this is just the next evolution of content marketing and social.
How does Tarek Mansour define financialization?
I mean, it's so crazy to me. I remember being back at the verge like 12 years ago and our friend Sam Sheffer was doing social, probably paid a pittance to do this. Like every other social media person in the industry.
Shout out hype desk.
And that's all there is now is social. And fortunately, these folks are being paid a lot more now for the value of their work and their skill at packaging content to fit in algorithmic social feeds. To me, this whole storytelling revolution, I think, kind of coincides with this whole idea of founders and creators being interesting. And when you are telling whatever you have to say from the horse's mouth, it typically feels more authentic or more interesting than it's being translated by somebody else, whether it's a reporter or the social media desk or otherwise. So yeah, to me, I mean, this is just kind of the next step.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:01
2
What is the significance of storytelling in tech?
1:01–3:22
3
How does Tarek Mansour define financialization?
3:22–7:02
4
What challenges does Kalshi face regarding insider trading?
7:02–11:05
5
How does Kalshi's approach differ from Polymarket?
11:05–13:30
6
What impact does regulation have on prediction markets?
13:30–15:55
7
How does Kalshi ensure market integrity?
15:55–19:54
8
What role does customer feedback play in product development?
19:54–1:02:51
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Pivot
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