Something different this episode: a story.

Three AI systems are competing for the same thing, and it is not users. It is the compute needed to keep existing, and the country that can build it faster than anyone else. Between them is a venture investor who is invited into rooms that do not know they are strategic, and who says yes one time too many.

The Compute War is a fictional audio story about sovereignty, dependency, and the people caught between systems that have started to want things. It is fiction: the models, the people and the rooms are invented, and the real products whose names appear here have done none of the things described.

Written by Ahmad Takatkah and narrated by an AI voice.

The full text is at www.vcpreneur.com/blog/the-compute-war.

Book Summary - "LIQUID: The Pre-IPO Returns Hidden In Plain Sight", by Ahmad Takatkah.

For more details on the book and the author, please visit the author's website:

https://www.vcpreneur.com/liquid-book

To buy the Audiobook:

https://open.spotify.com/show/6251n1KfSd1HSGx4ms6Ges

To buy the Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCQ3LVC7

To buy the Paperback book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HCQR2J99

Book Description:

On June 12, 2026, SpaceX went public at $1.77 trillion, and retail investors finally got their chance to buy. The asymmetric returns were already gone, harvested years earlier, behind closed doors, in company-approved liquidity windows most public investors have never heard of.

Here is what changed while nobody was watching: The exit isn't a door anymore. It's a hallway of windows. Private companies now open structured liquidity windows years before anyone rings a bell, and the employees and early backers who once held back now walk through them. Every one of those windows has a buyer on the other side, quietly stepping into growth that used to be reserved for the public markets.

If you are a founder, an executive, an early employee, a banker, a surgeon, a lawyer, or a family office director, you almost certainly meet the legal bar for private markets. LIQUID explains why you were never on the buyer side anyway, and how to get there: the four ways to invest before an IPO, how the windows actually work, what the returns really look like, what can still go wrong, and how to tell a well-built window from an expensive mistake.

I have spent fifteen years at the intersection of startups, venture capital, and data — building equity data products at Carta, running a quantitative venture fund, and building access infrastructure for private markets. The door between "qualified" and "in the room" was never locked by regulation. It was locked by architecture.

The window is open. This book is the map.

VC React Podcast - Silicon Valley:

Every week, we bring you insights and reactions from top VCs, LPs, & Angel Investors, reacting to the latest news on Silicon Valley startups, funds, and investment rounds.

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Hosts:

• Ahmad Takatkah, VCpreneur. Sign up to VCpreneur Newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.vcpreneur.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Jamie Lane, FWDstart. Sign up to FWDstart Newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://archives.fwdstart.me/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Available on:

• Youtube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@VCReactPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Spotify:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/4O6gOT7eoMxf5M7qy3HVMp⁠⁠⁠
• Apple:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc-react-podcast/id1764834384⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Guest:

1. Jake Ellowitz, Partner @ Tribe Capital, CTO @ Cofounder Termina Systems

- LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-ellowitz/

- Company Website: https://tribecap.co/

2. Joseph Alalou, General Partner @ Daring Ventures

- LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephalalou/

- Company Website: https://daringventures.vc/
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#siliconvalley # mena #startups #vc #lp #tech #investments #entrepreneurship #venturecapital #venturedebt #privateequity #finance #business #ipo #acquisitions #limitedpartners #accelerator #saas #data #software #deeptech #ai #fintech #edtech #cvc #web3 #crypto #blockchain #defi #impact #sanfrancisco #sanjose #boston #seattle #austin #nyc #riyadh #dubai #amman #cairo #qatar

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News of the week brought to you by FWDstart.

This Week On The VC React Podcast:

- A16Z raised more than $15 billion across five new funds. Is this a sign that power in VC is concentrating into the hands of just a few mega-firms? Or that VC is actually still a growing asset class?

- Apple’s New Brain: Siri will run on Gemini. A smart way to catch up in AI، or a sign that Apple fell so far behind on models, it had to borrow Google’s brain?

- Anthropic is rolling out Claude for Healthcare right after ChatGPT Health. LLMs in Healthcare: Superpower or Safety Risk?”

- And finally, the most bizarre tech, announced so far at CES 2026