Receipts or Regrets | End of Year Special

BUILT 2 SCALE | RECEIPTS OR REGRETS | End of Year Special

Welcome to our brand new segment: Receipts or Regrets. A receipt is something you keep because you're proud of the call. A regret? Well, that's obvious.

Matty and Scotty look back at 32 episodes of bold predictions, hot takes, and occasionally terrible life choices. With help from ChatGPT o1 (the only model that could handle all 32 transcripts), here are the calls that aged like fine wine and the ones that aged like milk.

Let's dive in.

Robots in the Home by 2025: Slop Receipt

Scotty called it early: robots in homes by 2025. The Chinese came through with $20K humanoids you can actually buy. Tesla and Figure didn't deliver, but the ball went in. Wrong pocket, but still counts. Slop receipt kept.

Make Every Australian a Millionaire: Escalate

Australia has $20 trillion in raw materials needed for AI infrastructure. Scotty proposed inviting global companies to build data centers here in exchange for giving Aussies a million dollars each plus free compute for life. The government? Still no AI strategy. No AI czar. Nothing. This isn't a receipt or regret. It's escalate and shout from the rooftops.

AI in the Avocado: Big Receipt

Guzman y Gomez IPO'd at $45 per share with a $5 million valuation per store. Scotty said there must be "AI in the avocado" for that multiple to work. Today? Stock down 55% to $20. Lacks AI in the avocado confirmed. Receipt kept.

Talking to Anna from Sesame AI in Bed: Regret

Matty got caught talking to an AI voice assistant under the sheets. His wife walked in. "Who are you talking to?" "It's a bot!" didn't help. New rule: no bots in the bedroom.

Steve Irwin Tech Talk in Dallas: Big Regret

Scotty invoked Steve Irwin while doing a tech talk in Dallas to lean into his Australian accent. Tough crowd. Too soon. Too much of a stretch. As a now embedded Austin local, even more cringey. Won't be doing that again.

Qantas: Split Decision

Scotty called out Qantas for no Wi-Fi on international flights in 2025 when Starlink exists. Regret. Matty? Qantas fanboy. Status points, flexi tickets, business class upgrades for $3K. He's keeping the receipt. Built 2 Scale will be taking separate flights.

Brett Adcock 200x Apple: Regret

Brett said Figure AI would be worth $800 trillion (200x Apple). Three years in, no product, lots of parties. Figure AI revenue? Near zero. Apple's revenue? $416 billion. Scotty's calling regret until Brett hires those two HR managers.

Limitless Pendant Meets Zuck: Regret

Matty bought the Limitless AI pendant. One year late, terrible battery, no Find My feature. Then got an email changing privacy terms. One hour later? Meta acquired them. Now Zuck has all his data, including the time he argued with his dog Hank and the AI thought Hank was a difficult coworker. Regret.

Dual Carriageway: Apple and Google Ecosystems: Regret

Matty self proclaimed he'd run dual ecosystems. Two laptops, two phones, two lives. Result? Paid $300/month for Google Ultra with no features and watched the Android Gemini phone camera take 10 seconds to open. Converted to Mac. Everyone not on Mac is wrong. Receipt on Mac, regret on Google.

Peak Waymo vs. Tesla: Receipt

Both called Tesla's long game over Waymo's robo taxi approach. Elon can produce a robo taxi for a tenth of the price. Economics win. Waymo might retrofit other OEMs with their tech, which is smart B2B play for the lefties and Euros who won't touch Tesla. But best product wins. Receipt.

First Year ARR is Nonsense: Big Receipt

The bubble frothiness of first year ARR announcements was too much. Monthly subscriptions reported as annual recurring revenue without proof of retention? Nonsense. ARR should only count annual upfront payments in year one. Y Combinator ARRs should exclude other YC ecosystem revenue. Receipt kept.

OpenAI Wants to Be the Apple of AI: Receipt

Called this in April before Jony Ive joined. Now it's obvious. If OpenAI doesn't get hardware right, they're in trouble. Apple might acquire them. Sam as CEO of Apple by end of 2026. Receipt banked.

Coders Shouldn't Be Called Builders: Rant Receipt

Scotty unloaded: Engineers sitting in cafes? Fine. Software architects on Figma? Okay. But builders? No. Leave that term alone. Someone makes a mistake on a construction site, they fall off a scaffold, they die, the builder goes to jail. That's the risk. The pyramids are unsolvable. Not a Figma pitch deck. Sacred word. Keep it.

Just In Time Software: Receipt

Matty predicted AI would write code on the fly to build interfaces and business logic that haven't been predefined. It's already happening. Dynamic software driven by LLMs instead of predefined workflows. The software version of "let's just do it ourselves" is here. Receipt.

The Takeaway:

Looking back at 32 episodes, most calls held up. Robots came (just from China). Tesla's winning the robo taxi race. OpenAI is chasing hardware. And no bots in the bedroom is now a firm rule.

Here's to more receipts in 2026.

Which call surprised you most? What's your prediction for next year?

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