Podbit · Freakonomics Radio
ExtremeGammon, the gold-standard backgammon analysis software released in 2009, was bought by Travis Kalanick — founder and former CEO of Uber — with plans for significant modern AI investment. It's a concrete signal of the backgammon renaissance reaching serious money.
Where this was said
At 51:10 · chapter starts 51:05
The modern backgammon story has a striking new investor: Travis Kalanick, former Uber CEO and avowed backgammon obsessive, purchased ExtremeGammon in 2024 and is expected to invest heavily in bringing modern machine learning to the platform. Meanwhile, Backgammon Galaxy continues to grow its user base, and Olsson observes two distinct and complementary trends: the rise of online play via apps and platforms, and the explosion of social backgammon clubs across the United States. These are not competing phenomena — they feed each other, with online players seeking in-person connection and tournament players learning online. Olsson singles out New York City as the epicenter of the club movement, pointing specifically to Remington Davenport's work.
ExtremeGammon (XG), the leading backgammon analysis software released in 2009, was purchased by Travis Kalanick, founder and former CEO of Uber, with plans for significant AI investment.
Remington Davenport didn't set out to build a movement. She just wanted somewhere to play. She started hosting weekly events in 2023 with 10 friends; by season four of her league, 235 people were competing. She cried after her first 50-person event because she didn't even know 50 people in New York.
Sam had no coding knowledge, so he used ChatGPT voice mode to generate his entire codebase and copy-pasted it into Notepad. A friend later introduced him to Cursor, and he never looked back.
Copy days of Discord chat history, paste it into ChatGPT, and ask it to list recurring pain points. The ones that come up most often are your best product bets.
Sam's top advice: when prompting Cursor, tell it to architect code for 100,000 users from day one. The AI changes its approach, building scalable frameworks instead of brittle one-user code.
With AI coding tools like Cursor, Bhanu replicates an existing free tool for a new keyword in under 5 minutes. What used to be a multi-day build is now a lunch-break task.
Ahrefs, SiteGPT, Cal.com, PostHog, Datafast, Sibyl AI, Bento, Feather, Featurepace, Mintlify, Cloud Code, ChartMogul — Bhanu runs his entire business solo with these 12 tools.
PropGPT runs on React Native with TypeScript and Python for ML, Neon for the database, RevenueCat and Superwall for monetization. LLM costs are $20/month, data APIs $100/month, and after $10K in monthly marketing spend, margins sit at roughly 50%.
Game apps keep users engaged long enough for ads to pay off. Tool apps don't — so if you're building a utility, ads are almost always the wrong call and subscriptions are your only real lever.
Inside SEO Bot, a single button labelled 'Boost My Domain Rating' routes users directly to Listing Bot. That one interaction converts a user of one tool into a user of two — without any marketing cost.
Directory listings are a powerful but underrated growth channel — but only if your product is genuinely interesting enough to earn the click. AI products have a natural advantage here because they're easy to package in a compelling, clickable way.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.