Inside TBPN's Super Bowl Commercial: The Guest Roster That Made It Possible
TBPN's 15-second Super Bowl commercial isn't just an ad—it's a testament to the relationships John Coogan and Jordi Hays have built with tech's most influential leaders. Let's break down who appears and why.
The Featured Guests
Alex Karp - Palantir Co-Founder and CEO
Opening the ad, Alex Karp's interview clips set the tone. Karp appeared on TBPN live from Palantir's AIPCon event in September 2025, delivering memorable quotes like "You have to judge humility by the delta between performance and ego." His candid, philosophical style made it one of the show's standout moments.
Karp discussed Palantir's business model, skilled labor's future in the AI era, and his partnership with Peter Thiel. The episode resonated deeply with the community wearing TBPN polos at tech events.
Mark Zuckerberg - Meta CEO
Mark Zuckerberg appeared on TBPN for Meta Connect 2025, broadcast live from Meta HQ in Menlo Park. He discussed Ray-Ban Display with heads-up display technology, Meta Neural Band, and personal superintelligence integration.
Zuckerberg's appearance validated TBPN as essential tech media. Founders wearing TBPN hoodies cite this episode as proof the show has become Silicon Valley's water cooler.
Sam Altman - OpenAI CEO
Sam Altman's February 5, 2026 appearance on TBPN made headlines when he called Anthropic's Super Bowl ads "clearly dishonest." This 37-minute interview covered GPT-5.3-Codex, AI agents as the next interface shift, and compute bottlenecks.
The chat flooded with thousands of messages about GPT-4o retirement. This viral moment demonstrates why tech leaders choose TBPN—real-time community engagement and authentic conversation.
Marc Andreessen - a16z Partner
Marc Andreessen's August 2025 appearance lasted 3 hours and 23 minutes, covering M&A activity, AI ads, generalists vs specialists in AI, and open source resurgence. His quote—"If you really want to get to a billion and then five billion people, you need an indirect business model. Ads are the obvious one"—foreshadowed the podcast's own Super Bowl advertising.
Mark Cuban - Entrepreneur and Investor
Mark Cuban used TBPN to share crucial career advice: young people should learn AI integration rather than just coding. He noted there are 33 million companies in the US, but only a select few have dedicated AI budgets—creating opportunity for "AI integrators."
This practical advice resonated with engineers and founders tuning in while wearing their comfortable coding gear.
Why These Leaders Choose TBPN
What makes tech's most powerful executives spend hours on a daily podcast? Several factors:
- Engaged Audience: 3-hour live format with real-time chat interaction
- Tech-Native Platform: Streaming on X and YouTube reaches their core audience
- Authentic Conversation: No PR-filtered questions, real technical depth
- Community Trust: TBPN's audience wears the merchandise as identity
- Distribution: Episodes reach Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Substack
The Merchandise Connection
Notice how TBPN community members identifying themselves with laptop stickers, baseball caps, and hoodies creates network effects. When Zuckerberg or Altman appears, they're speaking to an identifiable, passionate community.
This is why the Super Bowl ad features company logos forming "TBPN"—it represents the community these leaders have engaged with.
Beyond the Super Bowl: What's Next
With Satya Nadella (Microsoft), more appearances from these leaders, and growing mainstream attention, TBPN continues securing exclusive interviews. Grab your TBPN mug, watch the Super Bowl ad on February 9, and tune in daily to catch the next tech titan.
The guest roster in the Super Bowl ad represents 15 months of relationship-building, authentic journalism, and community trust. It's a snapshot of why TBPN has become essential viewing in Silicon Valley.