Upstarts · 2 min · Oct 29, 2026

B300 rental rates and workload value may converge soon

Evan Conrad · CEO, SF Compute

Evan Conrad compares $20–$50 in hourly value from a B300 workload with rental rates of $5.50–$6, and expects the figures to converge.

In this episode

1:11 GPU markets can make compute easier to finance4 min
7:15 GPU clusters can fail in ways buyers may not expectPro pick 4 min
10:53 Compute deposits can force startups to raise at huge valuationsPro pick 6 min
28:16 GPU futures need to account for performance differences4 min
36:34B300 rental rates and workload value may converge soon2 min
22:59 A $245 million compute deal is small by industry standards3 min
34:11 Compute financing could become a US geopolitical lever3 min
20:25 Conrad tried around 40 products while searching for a business3 min

“Right now, if you have a B300, depending on what you're running and what you're doing, you can make somewhere between like $20 to $50 an hour on that B300.”

Evan Conradat 37:33 · Upstarts

Takeaways

A B300 workload can generate $20–$50 per hour, depending on what it runs.
Current B300 rental rates are around $5.50–$6 an hour.
Conrad says buyers without strong reasons to own should consider leasing.

About this segment

Evan Conrad compares $20–$50 in hourly value from a B300 workload with rental rates of $5.50–$6, and expects the figures to converge. He says strong credit, power, land or portfolio demand can make ownership worthwhile.

Evan Conrad is CEO and co-founder of SF Compute.

Founded SF Compute, a GPU cluster exchange where buyers can resell unused compute time on contracts they can exit.

Alex Konrad, Host · Founder & editor, Upstarts Media
Ran Forbes' Midas List for ten years and co-created its Cloud 100 list; founded Upstarts in 2025.

From “The Accidental YC Founder Solving AI’s GPU Crisis | SF Compute’s Evan Conrad”, Oct 29, 2026. Watch the full episode

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

36:40
If, let's say, Compute did switch into abundance at some point, would the role of your company really change or no? Okay. So, we were in abundance at one point, so SFC went through a glut, or the whole market did. There was a period in which H100s were just, it was really hard to sell H100s. How long ago was that? A year and a half ago. Okay. You guys still found business otherwise? Yeah. Basically, one part of the market at any given point sort of is stronger than the other.
37:11
We're asset light, so there's some trade-offs of that, which is that we don't make as much money as you would if you were asset heavy and you were experiencing the upside. The benefit of that is that you get to build something very durable over a long period of time because you aren't, you're sort of immune to market swings. If there was one takeaway. For a wider startup audience, that you could teach everybody to just have a better understanding of compute and how this market works, what would be the top thing?
37:39
Right now, if you have a B300, depending on what you're running and what you're doing, you can make somewhere between like $20 to $50 an hour on that B300. Right now, B300 prices are $5.50 an hour, maybe $6 in some cases. I would expect those two numbers to come much closer together quite soon. If you are buying GPUs today, I would take that into account. And I sort of recognize that I am a participant in that, but I also just want to be super frank.
38:18
The alternative for anyone who owns a GPU is to simply sell that GPU instead for $20 to $40 or something an hour, rather than sell it to somebody else for $5.50 or $6. Is this a good time to want to need those GPUs, or is it a better time to own the GPU? If you have really great credit, if you have power or land, or you have a really strong reason to want those GPUs for maybe your portfolio, then you should totally own GPUs.
38:50
And otherwise, you should probably lease them. All right. Thank you, Evan. Of course.