In this episode of Algo Ego, I sit down with Sam Kinney to revisit the rise of FreeMarkets and explore how its core ideas translate into today’s world of AI-driven market design. We unpack the creative auction formats that reshaped industrial sourcing, the cultural engine that powered the company’s talent, and how those lessons apply as AI begins to automate negotiation, supplier discovery, and cost modeling at massive scale.

Sam also shares a forward-looking view of how AI agents might represent buyers and suppliers, how digital “part twins” could reshape engineering, and why rebuilding FreeMarkets today would look radically different — but still grounded in the same market principles that made it work 30 years ago.

In this episode of Algo Ego, I sit down with Stuart Loren — investor, former lawyer, and one of the sharpest voices on AI-driven economic change. Stuart and I talk about how he shifted from corporate law to institutional investing, and why themes like AI, energy supply, and social disruption now sit at the center of his work.

We dig into Jevons’ Paradox and what 19th-century coal demand can teach us about today’s GPU-powered world — including why data centers may jump from 3% to 12% of U.S. electricity use. Stuart explains how this fuels a new global race for power infrastructure, why China is over-building on purpose, and why the West risks falling behind.

We also cover his thesis on social disaffection, how AI may reshape white-collar careers, and what happens when tech giants move from software margins to owning physical assets like data centers and energy. Stuart shares what this means for investors, governments, and the future of cities like Chicago.

In this episode of Algo Ego, I sit down with Sam Kinney, co-founder of FreeMarkets — the company that pioneered online procurement auctions and transformed how global supply chains operate.
Sam and I talk about how FreeMarkets began in the early ’90s — before Java, before Netscape — and how a handful of former McKinsey consultants turned a manual “ballroom auction” into one of the most influential B2B platforms of its time.

We dive into the creative auction formats that shaped modern sourcing, from index bidding to net present value auctions, and the culture that fueled the company’s explosive growth (including the now-legendary “bag of bolts” interview test). Sam also shares lessons from FreeMarkets’ rise, what we learned about innovation and disruption, and how those insights apply to today’s world of AI-driven market design and the future of procurement.