Jordi Hays and John Coogan are no strangers to the startup grind. That Lucy nicotine pouch is in your mouth thanks to Coogan, and Hays’s Party Round was the hottest thing in venture capital in 2021. Their next play? Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN), the year-old tech and finance podcast favored by insiders and billionaires like Sam Altman, whose company OpenAI bought TBPN earlier this month.
What’s one work of art that got you through an important moment in your life?
John Coogan: Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 masterpiece, Koyaanisqatsi.
Jordi Hays: Borat.
What keeps you up at night?
Data centers being even slightly delayed.
What do you think is your biggest contribution to culture?
Making tech people wear suits.
What grounds you, and what invigorates you?
The daily schedule grounds us. The show goes live every weekday at 11 a.m., so there’s no room for projects to spiral or drift. Booking a fascinating guest on the same day everyone is discovering them is incredibly energizing.
What would you wear to meet your greatest enemy?
A TBPN racing jacket covered in logos, so at least we’re getting ad impressions for our sponsors.
When’s the last time you laughed hysterically?
Watching A.I. try to create a floor plan for a house and realizing it had drafted a two-bedroom, 12-bathroom design that would drive the residents insane.
What question do you ask yourself most often while making work?
Does this person actually believe what they’re saying right now?
What’s something people get wrong about you?
People think we only care about viral clips, but our core audience matters much more.
Name an influence of yours that might surprise people.
Gunna.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Self-improving A.I. systems.
Where do you feel most at home?
The TBPN Ultradome.
To read more from the 2026 CULT100 honorees, see the full list here.
in your life?
