Uptin and Thomas

About Uptin and Thomas

Inside the minds driving tech, money and power.

Publisher

Uptin

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Aug 2025

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

54 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   How South Korea Stole America’s Greatest Export (and Why Washington Messed Up). Hollywood is Changing.

   Hollywood is shrinking, but entertainment has never been bigger. Producer Patrick has spent 20 years in television, on shows like The Amazing Race and Naked and Afraid. He joins Uptin for an inside look at an industry being rebuilt in real time. They start with Obsession, a $750,000 film on track to earn half a billion dollars, and what its success says about Gen Z, original stories, and the future of movie theaters. Patrick explains why the old studio lots now feel like ghost towns and what the Paramount–Warner Bros merger could mean for jobs in LA. He also covers why productions are leaving for Ireland, Bulgaria, and the Gulf, and how South Korea turned K-dramas, K-pop, and Squid Game into soft power. That’s a playbook America invented and then forgot. They also get into streaming fatigue, YouTube’s growing power, Washington’s push for a federal film tax credit, and why the best predictor of a hit still isn’t an algorithm. Chapters 1:44 Welcome, Producer Patrick 1:49 The $750K movie chasing half a billion 3:04 “It’s the story, stupid” 3:49 Are movie tickets really too expensive? 5:35 Is Gen Z saving movie theaters? 6:25 The Paramount–Warner Bros merger explained 7:19 Layoffs and what the merger means for Hollywood 9:33 Tumbleweeds on the studio lots 10:47 Hollywood is shrinking, entertainment is growing 12:40 Ireland, Bulgaria, and the new global production hubs 13:51 South Korea and the power of soft power 16:07 France’s 20% rule and protecting culture 17:14 Nollywood and the new storytelling markets 19:31 Why the Gulf is investing in film 20:38 China, India, and Hollywood 24:30 Can a 20% federal tax credit bring productions back? 26:57 Streaming fatigue: who’s doing it right? 29:21 Is reality TV making a comeback? 30:20 What keeps Producer Patrick up at night? Subscribe for more conversations on business, culture, and what’s next.

2. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Your Phone Isn't Stealing Your Focus. You're Giving It Away.

   He wrote the book Silicon Valley used to make apps impossible to put down. Then he spent a decade teaching people how to break free. Nir Eyal is the bestselling author of Hooked, Indistractable, and his newest book, Beyond Belief, co-written with his wife Julie Li and a New York Times bestseller. His books have sold over a million copies in more than 30 languages, and he's a former Stanford GSB lecturer and serial entrepreneur who has built and sold multiple companies. In this episode of WHATS UPTIN?, we get into: How he responds to critics who say he helped build the attention economy The line between a healthy habit and manipulative design Whether distraction is still "on us" now that AI is making apps even better at grabbing attention The hidden beliefs that quietly cap your ambition, income, and results What it was like writing a book with his wife What a social media app built to be "indistractable" would actually look like The habit he still struggles with, despite literally writing the book on habits If you care about tech, money, or getting more out of your own brain, this one's for you.

3. 

   23 Jul 2026

   Sweden’s secret to creating global companies, from a Billion dollar company founder

   Oscar Höglund has started six companies. This is the one that turned into a nine-figure business, and along the way, he learned some of the sharpest lessons on hiring, leadership, and building through inflection points that I've heard on this show. In this episode, Oscar (co-founder of Epidemic Sound) and I get into what it actually takes to build and scale a company: why he believes you should only hire people smarter than yourself, the day he realized he was no longer the smartest person in his own company, how Sweden's economy shapes its founders, and why "done is better than perfect" only gets you so far. We also dig into AI's role in business today, where it supercharges talent and where it exposes weak links, and why speed without discipline can wreck a company's trust with its users. In this episode: Going from a "mediocre" management consultant to a serial founder Why great leadership means feeling like the dumbest person in the room How Sweden's safety net changes the risk calculus for entrepreneurs Paying for top talent in the AI era, and why the gap between good and great just got bigger Balancing speed and quality when you have a loyal, high-volume user base Predictions for where the creator economy is headed What's really keeping a founder up at night Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:34 What Oscar's company actually does 4:32 Uptin's own founder-story tangent 6:06 Short-form vs. long-form content trends 7:26 Starting from scratch in a legacy industry 10:24 Building a business model people actually want to work with 16:47 Why Sweden keeps producing great startups 20:13 "Hire people smarter than you," and the day that got real 22:18 Paying for talent in the AI era 23:42 Predictions for the next few years 28:18 Is an IPO coming? 29:01 What's keeping him up at night 🎧 Subscribe for more conversations with founders and operators building category-defining companies.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

3.6 / 5

17 ratings

Contact Uptin and Thomas

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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