The SaaSpocalypse That Wasn't, a Strait of Hormuz Workaround, and the Architecture of Your Own Spending

From Compound Growth · 48:01

Show by Compound Growth

Wheeler's Whoop sent him a pop-up after his first Rolfing session, checking in on how his body was feeling — which kicked off a bigger question the hosts have been circling for a while: is AI actually adding value, or is it just smoke and mirrors dressed up as a feature? Colin pushes back with a skeptic's case (a check-in doesn't move revenue, and everything these days claims an AI component the same way everything once claimed to be "turbo"), while Wheeler makes the counterpoint that a system paying attention, even imperfectly, is worth something — especially set against how hard it's gotten to land an actual primary care appointment.From there, the August markets recap: emerging markets led the month, up roughly 10%, largely on the back of Taiwan Semiconductor's outsized weight in the index; Bitcoin jumped about 20% in August but is still down for the year; and bonds, as usual, lagged. The "SaaSpocalypse" that hammered software stocks earlier in 2026 has mostly reversed — ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Shopify have clawed back most of their losses, and the sector ETF (IGV) is now positive on the year, which the hosts use to make the case that AI is more likely to strengthen entrenched platforms like CRMs than replace them outright. NVIDIA's Q2 earnings get a full breakdown too: triple-digit year-over-year growth across hyperscale/AI cloud, industrial enterprise, and data centers, a reported 62% margin, and a flag on a rising accounts-payable balance worth watching. A chart comparing CPI, core CPI, and PCE closes out the numbers — however you slice it, inflation is trending down, even if grocery-store sticker shock doesn't feel like it.The back half turns to geopolitics and financial planning: why Dubai is building a new port on its west coast to route around the Strait of Hormuz, a history tangent about a 1793 British diplomatic mission to China that got flatly rejected by the Qing emperor, and a breakdown of "choice architecture" — the idea that every checkout flow, sale, and saved payment method is designed to get you to spend, and you can design your own systems right back. Two client wins close the show: a $13,000–$15,000 position in Nvidia and Broadcom now worth $250,000–$300,000 that a client is gifting to family, and a couple who used the debt snowball method to pay off their credit cards and student loans and now have an extra $6,000 a month to put toward a 529 and a Trump account for their new baby.Sources:Whoop, AI-powered check-in feature (referenced on the recording; built on OpenAI per the hosts)NVIDIA Q2 FY27 earnings report and cash-flow Sankey chart (referenced on the recording; not independently verified)DP World / Strait of Hormuz shipping and port-expansion reporting (referenced on the recording; original source not specified)Inflation data — CPI, core CPI, and PCE (referenced on the recording; not independently verified)Follow Us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcastTikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod Wheeler’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/ Colin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/Credits:Created By: Wheeler Crowley and Colin WalkerProduction, Editing and Post-Production: Tori Rothwell

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