The spotlight this Thanksgiving isn't on your dinner table centerpiece or a compelling Netflix series but on an unusually intense financial drama: Michael Burry versus Nvidia. As someone who has bootstrapped startups and watched investment trends mold entire industries, I can't ignore the ripple effects this showdown might trigger across sectors, especially for founders and small business owners. So, what’s brewing, and why does it matter for entrepreneurial minds like ours?
The Face-Off: Burry Versus Nvidia
Michael Burry, most known for his prescient bets against the housing market in the mid-2000s, has turned his skepticism toward Nvidia. In his recent moves, Burry’s hedge fund revealed significant bets against Nvidia, as highlighted here in TechCrunch’s article, claiming the reported AI gold rush is more bubble than breakthrough. On the other side, Nvidia maintains its optimistic stance on AI’s transformative potential, bolstered by record-breaking profits. Their latest earnings call even openly refuted Burry’s accusations.
This clash is not just about numbers. It’s a debate that puts venture-fueled tech hype and market skepticism in the ring. Nvidia argues that its explosive growth reflects genuine demand, while Burry paints concerns over inflated valuations, stretched accounting rules, and unsustainable buying trends.
From my experience cultivating bootstrapped projects like Fe/male Switch, this kind of headline doesn’t stay confined to Wall Street. It trickles down, impacting how startups and small businesses approach innovation, investment, and growth.
AI Mania: What Founders Should Keep Sight Of
For European entrepreneurs and startup founders, the AI boom is seen as both thrilling and daunting. While Nvidia’s growth signals an abundance of opportunities in AI and tech, Burry’s criticism punctuates the need for caution. It’s tempting to jump on every rising trend, especially in tech , but market bubbles can burst faster than champagne bottles.
Here’s what to watch if you’re betting on AI yourself:
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Customer Reality Check: Burry points out that a significant portion of Nvidia chip demand stems from startups backed by venture cash rather than customer-driven revenue. Before integrating or investing in AI, ask if the market problem you're solving genuinely requires it or is simply riding the hype wave.
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Sustainability Over Growth: Nvidia may be building tools with extended support capabilities, but founders should assess AI solutions based on their ability to sustain long-term value under evolving market conditions. The flashiest tech doesn’t guarantee reliability.
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Beware the AI Gold Rush: Everybody may seem to be rushing into AI , but badly planned adoption leads to questionable spending. Focus on smarter, gradual integration instead of racing ahead without evaluating ROI.
Lessons Every Female Founder in Europe Can Learn
As a strong advocate for women in entrepreneurship, I see parallels between headlines like this one and the journey of women challenging traditional business perceptions. Burry raising concerns about Nvidia is not unlike the questions we keep asking about representation, accountability, and value creation in male-dominated industries.
Takeaways for female founders:
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Insights Over Influences: While market trends long dominated by legacy players can look daunting, don’t base your business model on the rhythm of external hype. Burry’s critique reminds us how hype-based narratives can collapse overnight.
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Small Moves, Big Impacts: Entrepreneurs bootstrapping their businesses often don’t have Nvidia-style scale. Instead, focus on effectiveness at core capabilities , whether it’s improving customer service or innovating in niche segments ignored by “giant” competitors.
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Accounting Transparency Is Key: The intense scrutiny Burry placed on Nvidia’s funding and depreciation practices is a lesson in how founders must structure financial clarity. Whether pitching for grants, bootstrapping, or growing investments from small pools, transparency is your armor.
Common Mistakes to Navigate In The AI Era
Even entrepreneurs eager to pivot into fields such as artificial intelligence should avoid these pitfalls:
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Chasing Trends, Not Solutions: Don’t chase emerging tech just for aesthetic or buzzword appeal. Navigate AI integration cautiously and adopt where it drives actual improvement.
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Failing to Audit AI Vendors: If you’re adopting AI, stay diligent about researching quality over cost and reputation over market hype.
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Undervaluing Collaboration: Entrepreneurs who rely only on tech shortcuts, failing to involve their network in AI’s strategic deployment, often get stuck.
How Small Businesses Can Benefit Without Joining The Drama
Balancing Burry’s critique and Nvidia’s forward-looking optimism, here’s how entrepreneurs can gain clarity:
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Use AI Tools to Test Models: Explore free tools like the F/M Startup Game BMC generator. It simplifies business modeling without hefty resources, ideal for founders who want early validation.
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Stay Nimble, Not Stubborn: Run experiments on AI’s effectiveness across your operations. While tools may promise magic results, constant assessment and adaptability are key.
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Educate Your Team: Invest in workshops or micro-courses to discuss AI, similar to CADChain’s training modules, instead of deploying tech blindly.
The Conclusion for Founders Watching Financial Feuds
These high-stakes dramas, whether centered around tech giants or hedge fund rising stars, reflect broader lessons that shape smaller-scale entrepreneurial strategies. Frame every big-market trend as a lens, not a roadmap. If you’re considering making bigger AI moves, this Thanksgiving debate is your wake-up call to ensure every leap aligns directly with your startup’s mission, solvency, and customer trust.
FAQ
1. Who is Michael Burry, and why is he critical of Nvidia?
Michael Burry, famous for predicting the 2008 housing crash, believes Nvidia's AI-driven growth represents a bubble, citing concerns about inflated valuations, accounting practices, and reliance on venture-backed startups for revenue. Read Nvidia's Response to Michael Burry's Criticism
2. How significant are Burry's bets against Nvidia and Palantir?
As of Q3/Q4 2025, Michael Burry's hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, disclosed bearish options worth over $1 billion against Nvidia and Palantir. Learn about Michael Burry’s Bet
3. What does Nvidia claim about its AI growth?
Nvidia asserts that its explosive revenue growth reflects genuine customer demand and denies allegations of manipulated accounting or unsustainable practices. Explore Nvidia’s Earnings and Response
4. What are Burry's main critiques of Nvidia's business practices?
Burry accuses Nvidia of circular financing, slow depreciation practices inflating earnings, and over-reliance on non-customer revenue to boost its AI sales. Check out Burry’s Critiques
5. How has Nvidia responded to the accusations?
Nvidia has pushed back on Burry's claims, arguing that their financial methods and compensation practices are consistent with industry standards. Read Nvidia’s Detailed Rebuttal
6. How does Burry's past performance influence this debate?
Michael Burry has a track record of accurate predictions, like the 2008 housing crash, but has also missed key growth trends, such as Tesla's rise. His critiques carry weight but are often met with skepticism.
7. Is Nvidia’s stock overvalued as Burry suggests?
This remains a topic of debate. Nvidia's market cap is $4.5 trillion, and while some believe this reflects real growth, others, like Burry, see signs of a bubble akin to the dot-com boom.
8. How can this financial feud affect entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs should use this debate as a lesson on cautious tech adoption, focusing on sustainable growth and clear ROI instead of riding tech trends without evaluation.
9. What lessons can small businesses draw from this scenario?
Small businesses should prioritize financial clarity, invest in necessary technologies judiciously, and avoid trend-driven decisions that lack a clear customer impact.
10. How closely tied are Nvidia and AI startups?
A significant portion of Nvidia's demand comes from venture-backed startups; Burry believes this creates an unsustainable cycle of growth reliant on investment, not real revenue. Discover More About Nvidia’s AI Demand
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
