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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Mercor CEO on Why Application Layer Companies Have No Defensibility, The Model is the Product | Token Spend Will Exceed Headcount Spend in 5 Years | The True Cost of Hiring AI Researchers in the Valley Today with Brendan Foody

Jun 1, 2026 · 1h 15m

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About this episode

Brendan Foody is the Founder and CEO @ Mercor, one of the leading data providers to the largest labs on the planet including OpenAI. In the last two years, Brendan has scaled the company to $1.5BN in ARR and a valuation of $10BN. AGENDA: True or False: Mercor lost Meta and OpenAI as a customer with the hack? Mercor has been poaching competitor talent, paying them millions? Mercor revenue is not real revenue and is only GMV? 12:56 Would Brendan sell Mercor for $30 billion? 14:23 Why everyone is wrong that AI will lead to labor displacement? 15:59 We will create many new jobs that do not exist with AI. 16:59 Why training agents will be a massive labor category that does not exist today 19:51…