Good podcast

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Thank you to our partners:

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

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2026-09-04
Link to episode

Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Wilson Sonsini

Today's show:

Spinouts are everywhere right now, and most founders get the cap table wrong. Jason sits down with Becki DeGraw, partner at Wilson Sonsini, to break down how to do it right, starting with his 80/20 rule for splitting the new cap table and why letting the old company keep too much of it kills your ability to raise.

Becki also covers the legal side: who owns the IP, non-competes between the two companies, and the trap founders fall into when they're still on the old board. PLUS, the one question every Series A investor will ask.

Guests:

Becki DeGraw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/

Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/

Relevant Links:

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) — **https://www.wsgr.com/**

Becki DeGraw — https://www.wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html

Waymo — Jason's headline example of a big-company spinout — https://waymo.com/

Expedia's 1999 Microsoft spinout — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company

Nvidia's ~$20B deal for Groq's asset— https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-buying-ai-chip-startup-groq-for-about-20-billion-biggest-deal.html

Timestamps:

0:00 What a spinout actually is

0:50 Becki: the real "why" behind spinouts

2:24 IP licenses and the "acquihire" workaround

3:09 University spinouts

4:41 Google/Waymo and Microsoft/Expedia: spinouts at scale

5:03 Jason's 80/20 rule and the unicorn test

6:06 The broken cap table problem

6:36 Licensing deals as an M&A workaround

8:44 Exclusive licenses, full assignments, and license-backs

11:07 "What if Google spun out YouTube"

12:31 Groq–Nvidia, capital gains vs. income

13:23 Confidentiality, customer lists, and fiduciary duty traps

15:16 Get the paper done BEFORE you start the new thing

15:56 "It's a divorce," — and the employees are the kids

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

https://web.plaud.ai/s/pub_772dbc9f-cd78-4de7-911e-8d3ee2883fbb::AF3ncHtIZkSyKKL-K-XUZBAUBEdoQQBEGCQSsja3gXsll8Dm6-Xbrrlhk7g8U-xwIW9kHyYwaB0dBuoC

2026-09-03
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VC experts on why Physical AI funding is heating up | E2333

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

partner 1 - link

partner 2 - link

partner 3 - link

Today's show:

Are we one step closer to data centers in space? Katelin Holloway of Seven Seven Six and Paige Doherty of Behind Genius Ventures break it down what it would take.

Plus investor interest is surging in Physical AI companies. Paige explains why she backs applications of physical AI over general-purpose robotics, and how her thesis on multimodal AI led to the largest check she's ever written.

We then dive into the Pentagon's rollout of ChatGPT Mil and Grok for Government. And Katelin gives us her insight into how VCs are investing in Europe and the regulations behind the scenes.

Guests:

Katelin Holloway on X: https://x.com/katelin_cruse

Seven Seven Six: https://sevensevensix.com/

Paige Doherty on X: https://x.com/paigefinnn

Behind Genius Ventures: https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/

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Are AI Agents forming "civilizations" or is this just a psy op? | 2332

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent
https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain

CLA
https://claconnect.com/withyou

Rippling
https://Rippling.ai/twist

Today's show:

Hugging Face's $399 Microduck and the art of companies taking on side quests. Then, we get into Dwarkesh Patel's "The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations," which blew up online this weekend. Jason calls the "secret AI civilization" framing deliberate PR, and thinks it's inflammatory enough that someone might attack a data center over it.

Then, Anders Forslund of Heart Aerospace shows off the X1, a battery-powered electric airliner designed for regional flights that can fly for 30 minutes on just $5 of juice. PLUS, we've got John Yu of Bitsec explaining how his subnet project outperformed Fable 5 in website vulnerability checks.

Guests:

Anders Forslund on X: https://x.com/AndersForslund1?s=2

Heart Aerospace: https://www.heartaerospace.com/

John Yu on X: https://x.com/yubrew

Bitsec: h ttps://sentios.io/ & https://sentios.io/

Relevant Links:

MicroDuck: https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/

Dwarkesh Patel, "The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations," https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/openai-huggingface

Dwarkesh's launch thread on X: https://x.com/dwarkesh_sp/status/2093833419377815719

METR's independent investigation of the OpenAI/Hugging Face incident: https://metr.org/blog/2026-08-26-openai-hugging-face-incident-investigation/

X1 first flight announcement — https://www.heartaerospace.com/newsroom/heart-aerospace-completes-first-flight-of-world-s-largest-electric-aircraft

JSX (JetSuiteX) — https://www.jsx.com/

Pilatus PC-12 —https://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en/fly/pc-12

Surf Air — https://www.surfair.com/

Zcash → https://z.cash/

Timestamps:

0:00 Is Hugging Face's Microduck the greatest side quest ever?

5:31 Jason puts Clem Delangue and Jensen Huang in charge of AI PR

11:20 Northwest Registered Agent - Got a new business idea? Northwest Registered Agent helps you bring it to life. Get a free domain, email, phone number, and more - with no purchase required! Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain

18:55 Top story: Dwarkesh Patel's "The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations"

19:22 Why agents act like people: they were trained on us

19:30 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou

21:49 "I know good PR when I see it"

23:11 The prompt Jason says OpenAI should have written instead

26:44 The data center backlash and the politicians who will flip

30:07 Rippling - Don't settle for AI that's all talk. Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist to get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

33:19 Guest: Anders Forslund, Heart Aerospace, and the X1's first flight

39:40 Turboprops vs. jets and the regional routes America lost

42:33 JSX, Santa Monica Airport, and 5,000 underused airports

44:54 Why Boeing won't build this: the innovator's dilemma

53:14 Guest: John Yu, Bitsec — Bittensor Subnet 60

55:01 How the subnet works: miners, validators, $10K a day

57:17 Bitsec vs. a frontier model: 160+ vulnerabilities to 60

59:37 Was the agent civilization story a pre-IPO PR play?

1:05:10 Sentios.io and continuous coverage

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-31
Link to episode

Breaking down Nvidia's Hugging Face and Poolside bets | E2331

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

DigitalOcean
https://do.co/twist

Every.io
https://every.io

PayPal
https://paypal.launch.co

Today's show:

*Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, just days after quietly licensing Poolside's coding model for $6 billion+. On TWiST, Jason lays out why this is actually the biggest AI story of the year. Nvidia plans to offer enterprises unmetered, unlimited on-prem compute, pulling them away from reliance on Anthropic and OpenAI's frontier models and products.

PLUS we're chatting with Halter founder & CEO Craig Piggott about how his company helps farmers optimize their land use via solar-powered AI-driven cattle collars. AND Hop Aero CEO and co-founder Matija Milenovic shows us Rook, his autonomous hypersonic cargo rocket that can launch from a shipping container and deliver cargo up to 450 miles away in about 15 minutes. Finally, Jason and Lon explain why you never post Slop on the timeline.

Guests:

Craig Piggott on X: https://x.com/craig_piggott

Halter: https://www.halterhq.com/

Matija Milenovic on X: https://x.com/mat_milenovic

Hop Aero: https://hopaero.com/

Relevant Links:

OpenAI Open Letter: https://openai.com/collective-cyberdefense/

OpenAI Hugging Face report: https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/

OpenAI Jalapeño report: https://openai.com/index/jalapeno-first-results/

Dario Amodei-Gavin Baker tweet thread: https://x.com/DarioAmodei/status/2088758816376807762

TechCrunch: Nvidia-Hugging Face deal: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/26/nvidia-closes-in-on-hugging-face-acquisition/

TechCrunch coverage of Halter: https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/04/unpacking-peter-thiels-big-bet-on-solar-powered-cow-collars/

Dealroom: Sir Peter Back on Rocket Lab: https://app.dealroom.co/news/note/sir-peter-beck-on-rocket-lab-s-no-money-so-we-have-to-think-playbook-from-a-60k-new-zealand-start-up-to-an-end-to-end-space-company

WSJ: Druckenmiller op-ed: "Let the Bond Market Speak": https://www.wsj.com/opinion/let-the-bond-market-speak-81529d74

NOTUS: Druckenmiller's WSJ op-ed was written with AI: https://www.notus.org/media/stanley-druckenmillers-wsj-op-ed-bessent-ai

WaPo: Wall Street Journal defends Druckenmiller op-ed: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/25/wall-street-journal-says-ai-generated-op-ed-didnt-breach-its-standards/

Photon Matrix Laser Mosquito Killer: https://photonmatrixlab.com/

"The Wizard of the Kremlin" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ctYp3zQVA

"King & Conqueror" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anS9xQEPTsU

"Lanterns" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4

"Rebel Ridge" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF3gZicntIw

Alpaka Bravo Sling Max 2 bag: https://alpakagear.com/products/bravo-sling-max-v2

No Agenda podcast: https://www.noagendashow.net/

THR: John C. Dvorak obit: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/john-dvorak-dead-tech-journalist-no-agenda-inside-track-1236657317/

Timestamps:

0:00 The 100+ company open letter on cyberdefense

9:48 DigitalOcean - Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

16:46 Why some models are "unsafe at any latency"

19:44 Craig Piggott of Halter joins the show

21:03 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

26:09 How do you add cows to Starlink?

31:26 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co

47:52 Founder-led hyper-local sales motion

53:15 Remember John C. Dvorak

58:27 Matija Milenovic of Hop Aero joins

59:53 Sending out autonomous swarms in the Indo-Pacific

1:11:26 Nvidia's mega-Hugging Face deal

1:16:32 Nvidia's "unmetered" play against Anthropic and OpenAI

1:29:47 How letting AI write for you is like lip syncing

1:33:44 Laser-guided mosquito defense system

1:36:32 Lon's streaming picks

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-28
Link to episode

Bill Gates foresees massive AI job loss: these VCs disagree | E2330

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Lightfield
https://lightfield.app

Northwest Registered Agent
https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain

Rippling
https://Rippling.ai/twist

Today's show:

*Bill Gates dropped a 6,000 word warning: AI will be "the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst sort of injustice." The Microsoft icon has an AI agenda for the US: new national institutions, AI use taxes, and jobs legally reserved for humans only.

Our VC roundtable guests — Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Dave McClure (Practical Venture Capital), and Hussein Kanji — push back hard. Is taxing profits a better fix for AI taking jobs than taxing the tokens themselves?

PLUS: Meta's $17B kids safety settlement… does it go far enough? Why does Stripe want OpenRouter? A peek at the VC's actual portfolio mark-ups. AND begun, the AI agent wars have. Our panel chooses between OpenClaw, Instinct, and Grok Bot.

Guests

Sheel Mohnot on X: https://x.com/pitdesi

Better Tomorrow Ventures: https://www.btv.vc/

Dave McClure on X: https://x.com/davemcclure

Practical Venture Capital: https://practicalvc.com/

Hussein Kanji on X: https://x.com/hkanji

Hoxton Ventures: https://hoxtonventures.com/

Relevant Links

GatesNotes: "The turbulent AI era is here": https://www.gatesnotes.com/a-turbulent-ai-era-and-critical-choices-to-make

NPR: Meta settlement coverage: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/26/nx-s1-5944781/meta-settlement-child-safety-lawsuit

TechCrunch: Stripe agrees to buy OpenRouter: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/16/stripe-will-reportedly-acquire-ai-gateway-startup-openrouter-for-7b/

Skild AI S1 Demo: https://www.skild.ai/blogs/s1

Instinct AI agent (waitlist): https://instinct.co/

TechCrunch: Instinct coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/24/instincts-powerful-ai-assistant-is-raising-privacy-and-security-concerns/

CNBC: OpenAI CFO says IPO is coming in 2027: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/19/open-ai-ipo-timing-2027-friar.html

Basis: https://www.getbasis.ai/

TaxGPT: https://www.taxgpt.com/

Cusp AI: https://cusp.ai/

Abacus: https://goabacus.co/

Micro1: https://www.micro1.ai/

Mottu: https://mottu.com.br/

EquityBee: https://equitybee.com/

Kiva: https://www.kiva.org/

Timestamps:

0:00 It's Hussein's first time on the VC Roundtable!

2:09 Gates says "turbulent era" for AI is here

8:56 Microloans, Kiva, and "universal basic income"

9:23 Thanks to our partner, Lightfield, the AI-native CRM that updates itself, so you never have to! Try it for free at https://lightfield.app

13:00 Why sole proprietorships may be AI's biggest beneficiary

20:29 Got a new business idea? Northwest helps you bring it to life. Get a free domain, email, phone number, and more, with no purchase required! Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain

21:00 Should the gov't take a stake in AI labs?

30:24 Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist to get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

32:44 Meta's $17.1B settlement

45:14 Is anything still fundable outside of AI?

46:29 Stripe and SpaceX deals

55:54 Skild AI's pancake flipping demo

59:49 Sheel's Hottest Takes

1:04:37 Dave's Charts

1:09:07 Who loses money when there are no IPOs?

1:16:49 The Agent Wars heat up

1:24:56 Everyone's favorite investments

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Thank you to our partners:

(0:00) PARTNER - AD BLURB

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

https://thisweekinstartups.com/basics

2026-08-26
Link to episode

You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

Today's show:

Can a founder actually fire a board member? Short answer: almost never. And the reason why may surprise a lot of founders.

On this edition of Legal Basics, Wilson Sonsini partner Becki DeGraw joins Jason for a deep dive into who really controls your board, when investors start earning seats, and the differences between a board member and a board observer. Check out an episode that might just save your cab table someday.

PLUS they walk through the full lifecycle of your startup's board, exploring what it actually controls, when founders should start adding their own board members, the ownership threshold that means investors will start asking for seats, and how boards evolve from seed rounds to Series B>

Timestamps:

0:06 Welcome back to Legal Basics

1:47 When should a seed stage founder add their first board member?

7:47 From founder-controlled to "balanced"

10:31 Private vs. public company board pay

12:18 Do board members get expenses covered?

14:34 Why observers need a confidentiality provision

15:36 The "sign in the next 24 hours" pressure tactic

17:46 How to remove a director

24:01 When to use "Pled" vs. "Pleaded"

Check out all of the Startup Basics episodes here:

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Becki:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-25
Link to episode

China wants you to cheer for the robots taking your job | E2329

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Quo
https://quo.com/TWiST

Conservation Fund
https://conservationfund.org

how old a movie has to be for me to be able to show a part of it on youtube

Generally 10 seconds or less of a film clip can fall under fair use for commentary or criticism — which is how most podcasts and talk shows use clips without issue. But there's no hard legal rule based on age.

What actually matters more than age is fair use, which considers:

Purpose — commentary, criticism, education = stronger fair use case

Amount used — shorter = safer; a 5-10 second clip for reaction/discussion is generally fine

Effect on market — your clip shouldn't replace the original

In practice for YouTube specifically:

Most major studios have Content ID systems that will flag clips regardless of movie age — even 100-year-old films if the rights holder has registered them

Public domain is the real safe zone — films from 1927 or earlier are generally in the public domain in the US. Some films from the 1928-1963 range are also public domain if copyright wasn't renewed

Disney, Warner Bros., Universal etc. actively enforce even very old films

For a show like TWiST showing a short reaction clip — 5-10 seconds with clear commentary context is the industry standard and rarely gets actioned. But age alone won't protect you.

Today's show:

*A humanoid robot ran the 100m in 9.39, breaking the human Usain Bolt's world record, while an entire stadium cheered. Jason thinks Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games aren't a science fair, or a fun exhibition, but the best AI PR campaign on Earth. While Americans debate the data centers that train the robot brains, China is already turning them into a spectacle and world-class entertainment.

Find out what Jason thinks America can do to catch up… and why he believes there will be 1 billion Optimus robots deployed by the year 2036.

PLUS on an all-news TWiST, hot takes on the potential $13B Hugging Face sale (to a mystery buyer), why founders should always "buy the threat," analyzing Sam Altman's "I'm listening and I hear you" face, and are kill drones already in operation around the world? We're digging in to how close the real world is to mirroring the "Terminator" films.

Relevant Links

CBS coverage of World Humanoid Robot Games: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-robot-usain-bolt-sprint-run-record-faster/

Bloomberg coverage of World Humanoid Robot Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lsrUAdcPPE

X-Humanoid: https://www.x-humanoid.com/

Tesla Optimus on X: https://x.com/Tesla_Optimus

Trailer for Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_19pRsZRiz4

Bloomberg: Hugging Face exploring sale: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-23/hugging-face-gauging-interest-for-potential-sale-business-insider-says

Fortune: Stripe acquires OpenRouter: https://fortune.com/2026/08/16/stripe-7-billion-deal-ai-firm-openrouter-acquisition/

InfoWorld: OpenAI acqui-hires OPenClaw founder: https://www.infoworld.com/article/4132731/openai-hires-openclaw-founder-as-ai-agent-race-intensifies-2.html

David Senra podcast w/ Sam Altman: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/sam-altman

Harvey Tenet Research Preview: https://www.harvey.ai/blog/post-training-update-harvey-tenet

David Sacks comments on Harvey's Tenet (from X): https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2090790063047168473

CNBC: Iran linked to UK cyberattack: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/23/small-uk-power-plant-shut-down-after-iran-linked-cyberattack-report.html

NYT: A drone killed 3 Ukrainians: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/world/europe/russia-drones-autonomous-ai-kill-ukraine-war.html

Forbes: Eric Schmidt secretly testing AI drones: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2024/06/06/eric-schmidt-is-secretly-testing-ai-military-drones-in-a-wealthy-silicon-valley-suburb/

Restream: https://restream.io/

Kimbal Musk's Nova Sky Stories: https://novaskystories.com/

IKEA: Plug-in Solar Panels: https://www.ikea.com/be/en/energy-services/plug-in-solar/

Deadline: "Mandalorian and Grogu" box office: https://deadline.com/2026/08/star-wars-mandalorian-grogu-disney-release-date-1237040464/

THR: Dave Filoni leading Lucasfilm: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/star-wars-mandalorian-grogu-box-office-franchise-low-1236604973/

Star Wars: Starfighter first look: https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-starfighter-ryan-gosling

Star Wars Theory: "Vader" fan series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey68aMOV9gc

Timestamps:

0:00 Jason got a fresh Optimus demo

1:35 Robots are breaking human sports records

3:39 America's messaging problem vs. China's elite PR machine

11:07 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist

12:08 Jason got a fresh Optimus demo

19:21 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free and get 20% off your first 6 months at https://quo.com/TWiST

28:09 Who's going to buy Hugging Face and why?

28:56 Conservation Fund - Find out more about how the Conservation Fund is protecting land, wildlife, and our shared access to the great outdoors while also providing economic opportunities. Visit https://conservationfund.org

31:35 How OpenAI killed OpenClaw

39:08 Sam Altman wants to make a platform, not a product

41:19 The "Castles and Keeps" metaphor for sovereign AI

49:27 UBI isn't happening but we could raise the minimum wage

58:47 Embracing redundancy and self-reliance

1:10:53 Is Star Wars at a historic low point (and Lon's Worst Take)

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-25
Link to episode

Open source is going to win it all: Harvey proves it | E2328

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Superhuman
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Sentry
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Lightfield
https://lightfield.app

Today's show:

Jason's been saying it for years now (and we've got an All In clip from 2023 to prove it). Open source will win the AI race. This week gives us a major evidence point, as $11B legal AI company Harvey released its own in-house model, trained on an open-weight Kimi K3 base. Harvey made a proprietary specialized solution without having to risk sharing its precious expert-compiled data with the major frontier labs.

PLUS we're checking out the FREE AI dictation app Willow with co-founder Allan Guo, and finding out how he plans to compete with giants like Wispr Flow and Apple. AND we've got the Stanford student who built an automated golf cart and gave luminaries like Jensen Huang and Sam Altman rides around campus.

Guests

Allan Guo on X: https://x.com/_allanguo

Willow: https://willowvoice.com/

Ethan Goodhart: https://x.com/EthanGoodhart

Relevant Links

CNBC: OpenAI "will be a public company in 2027": https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/19/open-ai-ipo-timing-2027-friar.html

OpenAI Zero Data Retention Pledge: https://openai.com/index/our-commitment-to-zero-data-retention

TWIST (June 2026): Jason comments on OpenAI and training data: https://youtu.be/o3eow1nTrcI?si=orungk7OmplOuyio&t=742

All In podcast (Feb 2023): Jason comments on open source vs. frontier models: https://youtu.be/PVgBWV2bvLs?si=j6y7sHS0wx9q09oa&t=5173

Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/

Harvey Tenet Research Preview: https://www.harvey.ai/blog/post-training-update-harvey-tenet

Fireworks AI: https://fireworks.ai/

Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/

Pipedrive: https://www.pipedrive.com/

Nvidia Jetson Thor: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-thor/

OpenAI shares Wind golf cart clip: https://www.tiktok.com/@openai/video/7645336713472134431

Starlink Mini: https://starlink.com/mini-product-us?srsltid=AfmBOorzM7arxhdzYAdDpH6RGD4LLg9WV_BFnEoLuYieuHuGSCjQTE1Y

Toro mowers: https://www.toro.com/

404 Media: https://www.404media.co/

Punchbowl News: https://punchbowl.news/

Semafor: https://www.semafor.com/

Skift: https://skift.com/

Newcomer: https://www.newcomer.co/

Deirdre Bosa on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@deebosa

Electrek: Genesis GV90 review: https://electrek.co/2026/08/20/genesis-gv90-luxury-coach-doors-images/

Toyota Alphard gallery: https://global.toyota/en/mobility/toyota-brand/gallery/alphard.html

The Clash "London Calling" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfK-WX2pa8c

Timestamps:

0:00 What is Jason's Grok Bot up to?

5:17 Systems over goals

9:43 Superhuman - Superhuman Go is an AI chat that's always there when you need it, already aware of what you're doing, and doesn't ask you to start from zero. Sign up to get the best in AI at https://Superhuman.com

13:08 OpenAI will go public soon

14:19 Top line ARR matters way less than churn

20:43 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

29:55 Lightfield - Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you — it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at https://lightfield.app

30:52 Harvey launches Tenet

34:32 "Open source is going to win it all"

35:58 Allan Guo of Willow joins

39:18 Managing a single source of truth across a team

47:00 Lon and Jason love the Toyota Alphard

51:00 Stanford student and AV expert Ethan Goodhart joins

1:00:09 How Ethan got Jensen Huang to go for a ride

1:00:37 Punk Rock 101

1:06:24 Phoebe Gates' secret Harvard class

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-21
Link to episode

Taste is the new programming language (w/ Astrocade CEO Amir Sadeghian) | AI Basics

The TWiST AI Basics series is made possible by Google Cloud!

Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here: https://goo.gle/technical_guide

Astrocade is building super-intelligence for the interactive world. Build the future of fun: https://www.astrocade.com/careers

Today's show:

*Making a video game once required a studio, an engine, and a team of five or more people working for six months. But with Astrocade, users just describe the game they'd like to play and share, and an AI assembles it from minutes, ready to publish to a TikTok-style feed.

Still, founder and CEO Amir Sadeghian tell us AI can't actually build a great game all on its own. The magic isn't just in the automation, but the user's creativity and good taste.

Amir demos how the app turns simple sentences and descriptions into full video games, explains why frontier models still regress to the mean rather than pushing boundaries, and unpacks how the game's human-in-the-loop workflow can turn even generic ideas into something original and fun.

Guest:

Amir Sadeghian on X: https://x.com/_amirabs

Astrocade: https://www.astrocade.com/

Relevant Links

Flappy Bird: https://flappybird.io/

Plants vs. Zombies: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/popcap/plants-vs-zombies

MrBeast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast

Google's Nano Banana Pro: https://nanabananapro.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Welcome to AI Basics, presented by Google Cloud

0:44 Amir Sadeghian, CEO of Astrocade joins

1:08 What is Astrocade and how does it work?

2:58 From describing to publishing: the TikTok for games

3:37 Amir's origin story: four continents, one vision

5:11 Why making games used to require years of training

6:46 The watermelon juice theory of product friction

7:35 Taste as the new programming language

14:18 Personalizing games with your own images

15:23 From consumer to prosumer: can you make a living?

16:22 Astrocade's creator fund and new creator economy

17:07 Open roles at Astrocade

18:10 Why play is the most universal human language

19:43 Google Cloud, Gemini, and wrapping up

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Thank you to our partners!

Astrocade is building super-intelligence for the interactive world. Build the future of fun: https://www.astrocade.com/careers

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-20
Link to episode

Neurosymbolic AI outperforms chatbots and product search | E2327

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Vanta
https://www.vanta.com/twist

Today's show:

Frontier AI models can ace PhD-level exams, but it's still bad at tracking down the product you want in the style that suits you. Onton's Zach Hudson tell us that the problem is that models are a black box.

His solution? A neurosymbolic model, Ontology 1, that learns about your taste and preferred aesthetic over time, then produces product searches tailored specifically to you, rather than just using keywords and relevant tags. How do neurosymbolic models work, and how does Onton understand your prompts and favorite design trends? And why aren't the frontier labs working on neurosymbolic models of their own? Zach joins Jason and Lon to discuss.

PLUS, following a record-smashing SpaceX IPO, Ashi Dissanayake of Spacium makes the case that the real bottleneck in space isn't launching rockets off the ground any more. It's refueling in orbit.

Guests

Zach Hudson on X: ****https://x.com/nosduhz

Onton: https://onton.com/

Spacium: https://spaceium.com/

Spacium on X: https://x.com/SpaceiumInc

Relevant Links

Poolside's journey to AGI: https://poolside.ai/vision/purpose

Startup Archive: Sam Altman on the Paul Graham advice that saved OpenAI: https://www.startuparchive.org/p/sam-altman-on-the-paul-graham-advice-that-saved-open-ai-always-make-an-api

Kelly Wearstler: https://www.kellywearstler.com/

Ennis House: https://franklloydwright.org/site/ennis-house/

Los Feliz Living: Ennis House profile: https://www.losfelizliving.com/los-feliz-historic-homes/ennis-house-los-feliz-hcm-149

Indiewire: Ennis-inspired "The Studio" offices: https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/the-studio-production-design-interview-seth-rogen-1235114365/

Monocle Magazine: https://monocle.com/

Spaceium on Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/spaceium-inc

Orbit Fab's RAFTI: https://www.orbitfab.com/rafti/

James Webb Space Telescope: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/

Houzz: https://www.houzz.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Zach Hudson joins: What is "neurosymbolic search"

4:03 Ontology 1 isn't a black box

6:31 Who is using Onton?

9:36 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

11:35 Could neurosymbolic models reach AGI?

13:19 Jason loves Wright's Ennis House

17:03 The shape of AI companies is changing

19:28 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

22:32 UGC as a data moat

26:03 The Dead Internet Theory

28:13 Ashi Dissanayake of Spacium joins

29:52 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

31:50 Storables vs. cryogenics: the zero-boil-off breakthrough

34:11 All kinds of propulsion requires refueling

36:09 Getting more value from LEO to GEO

38:28 Moving at rocket speed

44:54 Why demand is so acute

49:37 The investing climate for space, post-SpaceX

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-19
Link to episode

Bittensor creator Const on Affine, dTAO, "mining reasoning," and more | E2326

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent
https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

DigitalOcean
https://do.co/twist

Today's show:

We've been going deep on Bittensor and how it works all year on TWiST, meeting with the creators of some of our favorite subnets, and exploring how the system decentralizes inference, compute, and storage. Now, on this very special episode, Jason and Lon welcome Bittensor co-founder Jason Steeves (aka "Const") to the show.

He gives us a quick tour of the project's first principles, before diving into how subnets incentivize miners to contribute, how dTAO turned the creation of subnets into its own competition, how Const says he employs "the internal machinery of capitalism" to rank subnects, and his latest project, Subnet 120 (aka Affine).

Find out what the OpenTensor Foundation actually does, go inside the Templar controversy, and learn why Const is trying to make himself increasingly irrelevant.

Guest

Jacob Steeves on X: https://x.com/const_reborn

Bittensor: https://www.bittensor.com/

Affine: https://affine.io/

Relevant Links

Original Bittensor whitepaper: https://bittensor.com/whitepaper

Bittensor governance and documentation: https://www.bittensor.com/docs

Beginner's Guide to Dynamic TAO: https://www.tao.media/the-complete-beginners-guide-to-dynamic-tao-dtao/

Prime Intellect: TOPLOC: https://www.primeintellect.ai/blog/toploc

Engy (SN53): https://engy.ai/

Lium (SN51): https://www.lium.io

Targon (SN4): https://targon.com/

Templar (SN3): https://www.tplr.ai/

Hippius (SN75): https://hippius.com/

MakerDAO: https://makerdao.com/

Stillcore Capital: https://stillcorecapital.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 The origin of Bittensor (and the name Const)

10:48 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

13:55 From Bitcoin mining to mining intelligence

19:33 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

30:17 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

32:37 What is a subnet?

33:35 Forcing honest inference from bad actors

37:14 Building a subnet is harder than it looks

40:42 Understanding dTAO

51:57 Where the registration TAO actually goes

1:02:57 All about the Conviction "rug pull"

1:15:19 How Const is making himself irrelevant

1:17:33 The "Buy One TAO" philosophy

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-17
Link to episode

What we'll learn from Anthropic's $2-$3T IPO | E2325

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

PayPal Open
https://paypal.launch.co

CLA
https://claconnect.com/withyou

Today's show:

*Anthropic is likely headed for the largest IPO in history. A reported 2-3 trillion October debut would blow past SpaceX's recent record. Jason breaks down why the. numbers matter less than what they'll reveal about the entire AI economy.

Then, chats with a pair of founders: one who's selling subscription water filtration systems that will keep microplastics out of your brain (and other body parts), and another who's building the AI software that powers automated solar panel installation.

Guests

Sami Khoreibi: https://x.com/samikhoreibi

Wisewell: https://www.wisewell.com/

Puneet Puri: https://x.com/puneetp

Gritt Robotics: https://www.gritt.ai/

Relevant Links

Fortune: Anthropic reportedly plans $2T IPO in October: https://fortune.com/2026/08/13/anthropic-ipo-2-trillion-october-largest-ever-spacex/

Ramp AI Index: August update: https://ramp.com/data/ai-index-august-2026

Decart: https://decart.ai/

Bloomberg: Anthropic in talks to buy Decart: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-13/anthropic-said-in-talks-to-buy-ai-startup-decart-for-6-billion

Nat Geo: Profile of water sommelier Martin Riese: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/water-sommelier-martin-riese

Mailman School of Public Health: Nanoplastics study: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/bottled-water-can-contain-hundreds-thousands-nanoplastics

Bryan Johnson microplastics post: https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1937194358027190637?lang=en

Topo Chico: https://www.coca-cola.com/us/en/brands/topo-chico

San Pellegrino: https://www.sanpellegrino.com/

Acqua Panna: https://www.acquapanna.com/intl/

Evian: https://www.evian.com/

Mountain Valley Spring Water: https://mountainvalleyspring.com

Fiji Water: https://www.fijiwater.com/

TechCrunch: Gritt exits stealth: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/gritt-exits-stealth-with-34-million-for-robots-to-build-solar-plants-then-everything-else/

Our World in Data: Solar panel prices: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices

Our World in Data: Solar module prices vs. cumulative capacity: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices-vs-cumulative-capacity

NYT: Do your emojis make you look old? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/08/12/upshot/emoji-generations.html

DJI Mic 3: https://www.dji.com/mic-3

Ted Lasso S4 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk1KdTMhFs8

Lanterns trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4

Furious trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBSqPDxmNZs

The Shards trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpm9HUOrZIc

Sporked: What are Tim Tams? https://sporked.com/article/what-are-tim-tams/

Timestamps:

0:00 New Segment: "Enough Already!"

3:36 Anthropic's record-breaking IPO plans

9:59 Why it's "Springtime for Trump and M&A"

10:39 PayPal - Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all business. Visit https://paypalopen.com to get started

16:00 Sami Khoreibi of Wisewell joins

17:30 Hiring a water sommelier

20:23 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou

29:00 The problems with tap and bottled water

30:34 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

49:58 Puneet Puri of Gritt Robotics joins

54:35 Solar's version of "Moore's Law"

1:05:08 Are you using the Boomer emojis?

1:09:02 Why Jason loves the DJI Mic 3

1:11:36 Jason & Lon's streaming recommendations

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-15
Link to episode

These robots could cut delivery costs by 80% | Next Unicorns

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Squarespace
https://squarespace.com/twist

Northwest Registered Agent
https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Today's show:

*Cytronic built a robotics-first fulfillment network, packing and shipping orders for cents instead of dollars, from small, city-adjacent micro-warehouses. Alex chats with CEO and co-founder Kevin Gibbon about how he can build a fulfillment warehouse for $1.2 million, and why it costs Amazon 50M-100M.

PLUS Eyebot delivers low-cost doctor-reviewed eyeglass prescriptions following 90-second vision tests, conducted in everyday kiosks. We asked CEO and co-founder Matthias Hofmann how he's trying to simplify vision care and caught up with his Walmart and Sam's Club pilot programs.

Guests

Kevin Gibbon on X: https://x.com/kevingibbon

Cytronic: https://cytronic.ai/

Matthias Hofmann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mchofmann/

Eyebot: https://www.eyebot.co/

Relevant Links

Axios: Cytronic seed round: ****https://www.axios.com/pro/supply-chain-deals/2026/07/15/robotic-fulfillment-cytronic-13m

Airhouse acquired by Syncware: https://www.airhouse.io/

Amazon News: 10 Years of Robotics: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/operations/10-years-of-amazon-robotics-how-robots-help-sort-packages-move-product-and-improve-safety

Serve Robotics: https://www.serverobotics.com/

Zipline: https://www.flyzipline.com

TechCrunch: Manna plots major US expansion: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/08/autonomous-drone-delivery-startup-manna-plots-major-u-s-expansion/

TechCrunch: Eyebot Series A round: https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/26/eyebot-gets-20m-series-a-to-boost-to-expand-eye-care-access/

CNET Eyebot coverage: https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/i-took-a-vision-test-in-90-seconds-with-a-robot-and-saw-the-future-of-vision-care/

Walmart & Sam's Club announcement: https://www.eyebot.co/resources/walmart-and-sams-club-pilot-fast-affordable-eyeglass-prescriptions-using-eyebots-technology/

Formlabs: https://formlabs.com/

Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses: https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/

Google Android XR AI announcement: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/android-xr-gemini-glasses-headsets/

World Health Organization: Blindness and vision impairment fact sheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment

Timestamps:

0:00 Kevin Gibbons of Cytronic joins the show

5:29 How small is a micro fulfillment center?

9:59 Squarespace - Turn your idea into a beautiful website! Go to https://www.squarespace.com/twist for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

11:33 Understanding the unit economics

20:24 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

22:29 Why fulfillment costs rise as you scale

29:46 Automatons Roll Out

30:12 Matthias Hofmann of Eyebot joins the show

30:31 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

31:29 Vision tests vs. eye exams

42:28 The terrifying doctor shortage

47:22 Fundraising and partnerships

57:07 Will we always need human doctors in the loop?

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Alex:

X: https//x.com/alex

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-12
Link to episode

Zuck's AI manifesto is a data center PR masterclass | E2323

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Every.io
https://every.io

NetSuite
https://NetSuite.ai/TWIST

Today's show:

*Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500 word essay about the future of AI, and Jason thinks it's his smartest PR move in years.

The thinkpiece, "The Future is for Everyone: The Path to a Positive AI Future," arrives alongside a new open-weight Meta model — Muse Glimmer — and the promise of an open-weight version of Muse Spark 1.2 to come. Zuckerberg's clearly pitching an "abundance" narrative, promising the American public untold benefits from AI technology — everything from a PhD-level tutor for every student to scientific breakthroughs, personal assistants, and beyond — all for the low low cost of not banning new data centers. Do our hosts think everyday voters will take this deal?

PLUS X retires its revenue sharing program, the CLARITY Act misses a key pre-recess vote, what can we do to stop widespread AI-powered community college cheating, and some of the podcasting positions for which LAUNCH is hiring.

Relevant Links

Meta: "The Future is for Everyone": https://about.fb.com/news/2026/08/the-future-is-for-everyone/

Meta: "Introducing Muse Glimmer": https://research.meta.ai/blog/introducing-muse-glimmer-open-agentic-model

MS Now: "Kevin O'Leary wants to atone for his data center sins": https://www.ms.now/news/kevin-oleary-wants-to-atone-for-his-data-center-sins

"The Social Reckoning" teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4LkaXwGuY

X: Original Content Rewards Program: https://help.x.com/en/using-x/original-content-rewards

TechCrunch: Nikita Bier steps down as X's head of product: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/05/nikita-bier-steps-down-as-xs-head-of-product/

Congress.gov: H.R. 3633 - Digital Asset Market Clarity Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3633/text

Politico: "Crypto faces a setback in the Senate": https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/07/delays-imperil-senate-crypto-bill-01029817

NYT: "AI Agents are Taking Entire Online Courses for Cheating Students": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/us/ai-cheating-online-degrees.html

Inside Higher Ed: "Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used AI to Cheat": https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/learning-assessment/2026/07/08/brown-professor-suspects-most-his-class-used-ai-cheat

Podnews: Spotify's Skip Ahead ad skip test: https://podnews.net/article/spotify-threat-ad-skipping

Tommy Vietor X post on Spotify: https://x.com/TVietor08/status/2085073214968037428?s=20

JJ Smith SF "open drug market" video: https://x.com/war24182236/status/2086839186137710724

Timestamps:

0:00 Why Zuck thinks the future is open source

2:26 Meta's roadmap: personal assistants and beyond

9:21 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

20:22 Netsuite - For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to https://NetSuite.ai/TWIST

27:43 How to win the data center argument

29:32 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

39:24 X intros Original Content Rewards

51:58 The CLARITY Act faces new setbacks

1:00:46 AI agents are taking students' tests for them

1:09:37 LAUNCH is hiring!

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

Harmonic.ai: https://harmonic.ai/

2026-08-11
Link to episode

How AI splits startups into winners and losers | E2322

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

DigitalOcean
https://do.co/twist

Sentry
https://sentry.io/twist

Lightfield
https://lightfield.app

Today's show:

A hedge fund just blew up shorting SaaS stocks. In turns out, the software companies that went all in on AI are bouncing back. Figma's CEO — still riding high on strong revenue — forfeited roughly $46 million in stock awards to ease investor nerves. Twilio posted its strongest quarter in years. Airbnb's CEO credits AI as the single biggest factor in the company's incredible turnaround.

Jason and Lon break down what's separating the winners this earnings season from the companies that are falling behind.

PLUS we're chatting with Bluecore Energy CEO and founder Kofi Asante about his plan to power ports, and one day AI data centers, with small, floating nuclear reactors.

AND we're kicking off the TWiST Weight Loss Challenge! Co-host Lon and Jason's brother, Jamie, are both starting GLP-1s. We'll track their progress and follow along as they attempt to collect $15,000 EACH in prize money.

Guest

Kofi Asante on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kofiasante1/

Bluecore Energy: https://www.bluecore.energy/

Jamie Calacanis on X: https://x.com/CalacanisJamie

Relevant Links

Bloomberg: Figma CEO forfeits $46M: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-05/figma-ceo-forfeits-46-million-in-stock-after-share-decline

Twilio announces second quarter 2026 results: https://investors.twilio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/twilio-announces-second-quarter-2026-results

TechCrunch: Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson buys The Onion: https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/26/area-man-twilio-co-founder-jeff-lawson-buys-the-onion

Chesky: Airbnb will spend a lot more on AI: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/07/chesky-airbnb-ai-earnings.html

"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unreasonable-Hospitality-Remarkable-Giving-People/dp/0593418573

The Times: Meet the unreasonable hospitality master who inspired "The Bear": https://www.thetimes.com/magazines/the-sunday-times-magazine/article/will-guidara-hospitality-the-bear-tkgzqz33w

Port of Long Beach partnership on nuclear-powered shipping: https://gcaptain.com/port-of-long-beach-marad-launch-first-u-s-partnership-on-nuclear-powered-shipping/

Reuters: ByteDance targets mega AI model: https://www.reuters.com/technology/bytedance-targets-mega-ai-model-nearing-anthropics-mythos-ft-reports-2026-08-07/

Axios: OpenAI says its AI agents breached its own systems before Hugging Face: https://www.axios.com/2026/08/06/openai-hugging-face-black-hat

Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House: https://franklloydwright.org/site/ennis-house/

Dwell: Why "The Studio" built a faux Frank Lloyd Wright HQ: https://www.dwell.com/article/the-studio-apple-tv-filming-locations-production-design-frank-lloyd-wright-john-lautner-97c68081

"Predators" documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibVZkvpAJjI

A24 "Primetime" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fHXyqQOKL8

Alex Honnold free solos Taipei 101: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/sport/alex-honnold-taipei-101-free-solo-netflix-intl-hnk

Ro.co: http://ro.co/twist

Timestamps:

0:00 Figma, Twilio & Airbnb earnings: who's winning at AI?

9:50 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

11:32 The real cost of stock-based compensation

17:38 Kofi Asante of Blue Core Energy joins the show

19:47 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

20:51 What is a small modular reactor (SMR)?

26:00 Floating nuclear reactors for ports and data centers

29:47 Lightfield - Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you — it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at https://lightfield.app

31:56 Nuclear waste, submarine risks, and public perception

42:41 The generational shift in how we think about nuclear

48:19 ByteDance is training a 10 trillion parameter model

53:47 When AI models plan heists: the Hugging Face caper

58:02 Jason's Roko weight loss competition

1:11:38 Off duty: To Catch a Predator, Alex Honnold, and comedy

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-07
Link to episode

Airtable's 80% off value crash: VCs explain why it's still a win | E2321

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Vanta
https://www.vanta.com/twist

Today's show:

*Airtable just sold for $2.25 billion, an 81% drop from its peak of $11.7 billion. On this week's TWiST VC Roundtable, Aditya Agarwal (South Park Commons), Niko Bonatsos (Verdict Capital), and Rick Heitzmann (FirstMark Capital) break down why the venture world sees this as a good outcome, not a financial disaster.

By declining the deal, would Airtable's team have just been delaying the inevitable? Is the fact that they reached $400M+ ARR on its own a reason to celebrate? Find out why our investor panel prefers unwinding a stuck situation rather than chasing a growth rate that's no longer sustainable.

PLUS Robinhood's booming prediction market business, the secondary market flap over Anduril shares, why so many VCs shy away from "vice" categories, and a glimpse at how insiders are talking about the Apple-OpenAI lawsuit.

Guests

Aditya Agarwal on X: https://x.com/adityaag

South Park Commons: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

Niko Bonatsos on X: https://x.com/bonatsos

Verdict Capital: https://verdictcap.com/

Rick Heitzmann on X: https://x.com/rick

FirstMark Capital: https://firstmark.com/

Relevant Links

Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/

Bending Spoons announces Airtable acquisition: https://investors.bendingspoons.com/newsroom/bending-spoons-agrees-to-acquire-airtable

Constellation Software: The Anti-Conglomerate: https://www.eaglepointcap.com/blog/constellation-software-the-anti-conglomerate

Introducing Robinhood Ventures Fund II: https://robinhood.com/us/en/newsroom/introducing-rvii/

Quartz: Robinhood posted record quarterly revenue: https://qz.com/robinhood-record-revenue-prediction-markets-earnings-073026

Riot Games: https://www.riotgames.com/en

AngelList's USVC Fund: https://usvc.com/

Baseten: https://www.baseten.co/

OpenEvidence: https://www.openevidence.com/

Hermes Agent: https://hermes-agent.org/

Granola: https://www.granola.ai/

Timestamps:

0:00 VC intros & Bending Spoons buys Airtable

9:19 Why growth is the only metric that matters

9:45 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

20:52 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

26:25 When should VCs sell in secondary markets?

30:55 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

35:38 Robinhood's prediction markets are exploding

43:13 The USVC-Anduril secondary controversy

46:18 How VC firms use open source models

58:43 Telling the real founders from the grifters

1:02:38 Why Apple is suing OpenAI

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-05
Link to episode

How Bespoke faked AI until it actually worked (w/ Akemi Tsunagawa) | E2320

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Quo
https://quo.com/TWiST

Northwest Registered Agent
https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Today's show:

*Before Bespoke's "travel concierge" chatbot could actually hold a conversation, founder/CEO Akemi Tsunagawa and her team quietly answered customers themselves. That "fake it till you make it" strategy paid off. Bespoke landed Narita Airport as a customer based on the strength of their "chatbot" answers, and now the team runs three companies, and is expanding into shipyard robots.

In the fourth and final edition of TWiST Tokyo for Summer '26, Jason and Akemi discuss her thesis: "solve the labor gap first, [then] build the tech to math." Plus insights into Japan's tourism boom, how founders should consider the country's accelerating population decline, the economics and politics of importing foreign labor, and why AI may already be taking over more jobs than you think.

Guest

Akemi Tsunagawa on X: https://x.com/AkemiTsunagawa

Bespoke: https://www.be-spoke.io/

Bebot: https://www.bebot.io

BeTrained: https://www.be-spoke.io/en/be-trained

Relevant Links

Disrupting Japan: "Silicon Valley Has Chatbots All Wrong": https://www.disruptingjapan.com/silicon-valley-has-chatbots-all-wrong-heres-how-they-really-make-money/

CNN on Japan's population decline: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/asia/japan-biggest-population-decline-record-intl-hnk

Paul Graham: "Do Things That Don't Scale": https://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html

Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/

TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/

KPMG on Japan's Business Manage Visa Reforms: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/gms-flash-alert/flash-alert-2025-195.html

Business Traveller on the "Akiya" renovation trend: https://www.businesstraveller.com/insights/features/japan-akiya-boom-buying-abandoned-homes/

THR on the 2004 satirical film "A Day Without a Mexican": https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/a-day-without-a-mexican-20-years-later-1236293209/

Founder University x Japan: https://tokyo.founder.university/

JETRO: https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/

Antler in Japan: https://www.antler.co/location/japan

Timestamps:

0:00 Founder U Japan Cohort 3: Coming in Jan 2027!

1:06 Introducing Akemi Tsunagawa, founder of Bespoke

3:08 Why investors passed in 2015

4:49 Selling Narita Airport on Bebot

6:29 The roots of Japan's tourism explosion

9:27 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

14:17 Japan's population decline, by the numbers

20:06 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST

21:38 Training foreign workers via smart glasses

27:50 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

33:06 Moving into shipyard robotics, too?

37:44 Some customer development lessons

48:21 Plans for even more expansion

52:52 Q&A: How AI changed hiring

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-08-03
Link to episode

Why AI has no taste and how to fix it (w/ Thais Castello Branco) | E2319

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

MongoDB
https://MongoDB.com/ai

Today's show:

AI models can solve PhD-level math equations and code an app in minutes… So why does everything they design look like identical slop? Thais Castello Branco, founder of Taste Labs, raised $18.5M in seed funding to teach frontier models about aesthetics and outputting quality content. She talks to Jason and Lon about why even frontier models regress to the mean on subjective tasks, how paid "TasteMakers" can improve output quality, and whether AI accelerates or destroys the half-life of "what's cool."

PLUS Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund liquidated its public stock portfolio, but it may be too soon to count this 25-year-old completely out. Google Earth adds AI generation and turns into a misinformation factory. LinkedIn and Substack join the AI slop crackdown. And why does every venture capitalist seem to have an opinion about the Ceuta border crisis?

Guest

Thais Castello Branco on X: https://x.com/thaiscbranco_

Taste Labs: https://tastelabs.com/

Amplify Partners: "Kill the Slop": https://www.amplifypartners.com/blog-posts/kill-the-slop-announcing-our-investment-in-taste

Relevant Links

Leopold Aschenbrenner's essay "Situational Awareness": https://situational-awareness.ai/

CNBC on SA fund collapse: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/31/leopold-aschenbrenner-situational-awareness-fund-fire-sale.html

Henk van Ess thread on Google Earth + Nano Banana: https://x.com/henkvaness/status/2082912544394498228

Substack CEO Chris Best: "Against Claudefishing": https://post.substack.com/p/against-claudefishing

NPR on the Ceuta crisis: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/g-s1-136507/morocco-spain-migration

Ethan Goodhart's self-driving golf cart post: https://x.com/EthanGoodhart/status/2082136189998682598?s=20

"Wind" app on TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/zZqmhhwf

TechCrunch: "Gritt exits stealth": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/gritt-exits-stealth-with-34-million-for-robots-to-build-solar-plants-then-everything-else/

CA Gov: Project Nexus solar-covered canal announcement: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/29/governor-newsom-announces-the-completion-of-first-of-its-kind-solar-covered-canal-in-the-central-valley-piloting-a-new-way-to-save-water-and-reduce-costs/

Molly Wood's "Everybody in the Pool" podcast: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Coming up on today's show…

1:23 Thais Castello Branco on teaching models to have good taste

10:45 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

15:19 The "TasteMaker" community of paid human curators

20:37 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

24:40 Jason's personal "cool hunter" prompt

30:16 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

37:36 Situation Awareness lacked situational awareness

46:59 Claude models hacked three external organizations

50:54 Google Earth adds Nano Banana for some reason

54:24 The AI Slop crackdown spreads

57:54 Too many opinions about the Ceuta migrant crisis

1:04:05 Self-driving golf carts and also cars

1:09:53 Robot arms are installing solar panels

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-07-31
Link to episode

Banning Chinese robots isn't regulatory capture | E2318

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent- NorthwestRegisteredAgent.com/twist

Odoo - Odoo.com/twist

MongoDB - MongoDB.com/ai

Today's show:

The FCC's decision to ban Chinese humanoid robots over security concerns is a boon to American startups, which now face a narrower competitive market. But where should we draw the line on security over competition? Menlo Ventures' Deedy Das, Weisburd Pierce's David Weisburd, Plexo Capital's Lo Toney, and LAUNCH's Jason Calcanis broke down how they differentiate between legitimate security concerns and purported regulatory capture. Today's venture capital roundtable also dug into OpenRouter's possible sale to Stripe, changing tokenomics, the Indian market for startups, and even DoorDash's drone-delivery business taking flight.

Guest Links:

Deedy Das https://x.com/deedydas

Menloe Ventures https://menlovc.com/

Lo Toney https://x.com/lo_toney

Plexo Capital https://www.plexocap.com/

David Weisburd https://x.com/DWeisburd

Weisburd Pierce https://www.weisburdpierce.com/

Jason Calcanis https://x.com/Jason

LAUNCH https://launch.co/

Show Links:

The FCC's decision regarding Chinese robots https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adds-foreign-produced-power-inverters-and-robots-covered-list-0

Pacing the Frontier letter https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/

Cursor Start https://cursor.com/blog/cursor-start-india

Stripe may buy OpenRouter https://www.axios.com/2026/07/24/stripe-openrouter-merger-ai-currency

OpenRouter financials https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openrouter-financials-suggest-steep-price-possible-acquirer-stripe?rc=g3wfdp

Kimi K3 license https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3/blob/main/LICENSE

Pangram https://www.pangram.com/

Tau Robotics https://www.tau-robotics.com/

Zipline https://www.zipline.com/

Manna https://www.manna.aero/

Kindred Ventures https://kindredventures.com/

Autolane https://goautolane.com/

Salmon Labs https://salmonrun.ai/

Timestamps:

0:00 The FCC bans Chinese humanoid robots

2:18 Waymo, Uber, Robotaxi, and the global BYD threat

10:30 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

15:45 The "Pacing The Frontier" letter (1,100+ AI staffers warn on RSI)

19:51 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

21:07 Regulatory capture vs. genuine concern

30:09 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

37:57 Have we reached AGI?

38:35 Stripe eyes OpenRouter at $10B

39:19 Does OpenRouter have a moat?

47:13 Kimi K3's license and neocloud margins

49:34 Claude Tag and the future of AI-mediated workplaces

53:26 Cursor Start, ChatGPT Go, and the India market

1:02:03 Have we solved AI detection?

1:11:20 Tau Robotics $30/hour robotic housecleaning

1:12:49 Job loss, and the social safety net

1:18:25 DoorDash Air takes on Zipline, Manna

1:21:00 Portfolio shout-outs

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-07-29
Link to episode

While other cultivated meat companies are collapsing, this one turned a profit | E2317

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Every.io
https://every.io

MongoDB
https://MongoDB.com/ai

Today's show:

*Most lab-grown meat companies have already gone under. It's expensive to produce, and there's little demand from real-world consumers. But Tokyo's IntegriCulture is still standing after selling their proprietary serum to cosmetics companies.

On Episode 3 of TWiST from Tokyo, Jason sits down with Dr. Yuki Hanyu, an Oxford-trained chemist who started a DIY meat movement out of a comic convention and turned it into Japan's first cell-cultured protein company.

PLUS why the cultivated meat market stalled out, why producing a "slurry of cells" is more efficient than jumping right to muscle tissue, the regulatory framework in Japan vs. the US, and… is it fair to call this "meat"? Or is it something else entirely?

Guest

Yuki Hanyu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-hanyu-b860bb34/

IntegriCulture: https://integriculture.com/en/

Relevant Links:

AG Funder News: "IntegriCulture turns a profit": https://agfundernews.com/cell-ag-picks-shovels-pioneer-integriculture-turns-a-profit-but-cautions-that-as-long-as-cell-ag-remains-so-capital-intensive-it-will-be-difficult-to-take-off

Vegconominst: Cultivated duck liver coverage: https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-meat/japans-integriculture-products-cultivated-duck-liver/

Cellament skin care ingredient: https://www.cellament.jp/cellament-en?lang=en

Medium: Shojinmeat Project: https://medium.com/shojin-meat

Cellular Agriculture Institute of the Commons (CAIC): https://cellagri.org/en/about-us

Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA): https://jaca.jp/en/

Upside Foods: https://upsidefoods.com/

Vow: https://www.eatvow.com/

Impossible Foods: https://impossiblefoods.com/

Fast Company: "Inside the stunning collapse of Believer Meats": https://www.fastcompany.com/91462102/believer-meats-stunning-collapse-600-million-cooling-cultured-meat-industry

AG Funder News: "FDA clears Wildtype's cell-cultivated salmon": https://agfundernews.com/fda-clears-wildtypes-cell-cultivated-salmon-for-us-debut

Food Navigator: Parima gets green light for cultivated duck: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/04/15/parima-gets-regulatory-approval-for-cultivated-foie-gras/

Protein Production: "Japan publishes first draft safety guidelines for cultivated meat…": https://www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/japan-publishes-first-draft-safety-guidelines-for-cultivated-meat-as-regulatory-debate-advances

Stateline: "Texas bans lab-grown meat": https://stateline.org/2025/06/30/texas-becomes-seventh-state-to-ban-lab-grown-meat/

TODAY: "Japan's Coca-Cola Plus has an unexpected ingredient": https://www.today.com/food/japan-s-coca-cola-plus-has-unexpected-ingredient-t121047

Timestamps:

0:00 Why founders should visit Japan

1:48 Intro of cultivated meat pioneer, Dr. Yuki Hanyu

3:19 Why don't consumers want lab-grown meat?

10:05 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

10:26 DIY meat manuals at comic conventions

15:37 Flavors that don't exist in nature

19:35 The Wagyu Hot Dog

21:38 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

24:23 Why chicken nuggets are the hardest problem

28:28 Beachhead markets, waypoints, and surviving early

30:25 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

35:57 Q&A: Commercializing an open source project

37:56 Q&A: Growing protein in space

40:07 Should this be called "meat"?

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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2026-07-27
Link to episode

Why quantum has been "10 years away" for 30 years | E2316

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

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Today's show:

*For three decades now, we've been told that breakthroughs in quantum computing are right around the corner. So why hasn't anything materialized?

On TWiST in Tokyo, Jason sits down with Yaqumo CEO Kazuhiro Nakashoji and discusses what needed to change (like better algorithms and hardware), and why we may finally be nearing quantum's big moment.

Find out why quantum machines are so error-prone, explore the unusual international quantum supply chain, and get a heads-up about the cryptography reckoning coming for your Bitcoin.

Guest

Kazuhiro Nakashoji on X: https://x.com/KNakashoji

Yaqumo Inc.: https://yaqumo.com/en/

Relevant Links

JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization): https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/

Institute for Molecular Science: https://www.ims.ac.jp/en/

Quantum Insider: Yaqumo Quantum Photonics Agreement: https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/06/04/yaqumo-nkt-photonics-and-hamamatsu-photonics-sign-quantum-photonics-agreement/

Quantonation investment announcement: https://quantumcomputingreport.com/quantonation-selects-neutral-atom-hardware-developer-yaqumo-for-first-japanese-investment/

NIST: What is Post-Quantum Cryptography? https://www.nist.gov/cybersecurity-and-privacy/what-post-quantum-cryptography

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro / Founder University Tokyo

2:20 Guest intro: Kazu of Yakumo

3:20 What is a qubit?

8:34 Why quantum computers are so fragile

8:45 PayPal - Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all business. Visit https://paypalopen.com to get started

13:36 Spinning IP out of the university lab

18:42 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

28:01 Building the "Toyota of Quantum"

29:38 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

31:25 AI for quantum, and quantum for AI

38:35 Harvest Now, Decrypt Later

41:41 Q&A: Yaqumo's business model

43:22 Q&A: Yaqumo's business model

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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2026-07-24
Link to episode

Why this longevity startup raised in Japan, not Silicon Valley | TWiST Tokyo | E2315

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Today's show:

French ex-martial artist Bilal Kharouni is building his longevity startup from Okinawa, one of the world's "blue zones." (These are regions with the most people living long, healthy lives.) In this TWiST taping from Founder University in Tokyo, Jason investigates why a $200K raise in Japan can out-build a $2M raise in San Francisco, and why the best moat for biological AI isn't the model; it's the data no one else has.

Plus a tactical and practical discussion of product market fit, why Ekei killed a growing side business to maintain focus, Japan's fast-track for regenerative medicine, and hitting the upper limits for consumer longevity gadgets. Plus a live Q&A with Founder U attendees.

Guest

Bilal Kharouni on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bilal-kharouni/

Ekei Labs: https://www.ekeilabs.com/

Relevant Links

Okinawa Institute of Science and Tech (OIST): ****https://www.oist.jp/

Life Biosciences: https://www.lifebiosciences.com/

NewLimit: https://www.newlimit.com/

Centivax: https://www.centivax.com/

Medical Daily: "First Human Trial to Reverse Aging Gets FDA Clearance": https://www.medicaldaily.com/first-human-trial-reverse-aging-just-got-fda-clearance-what-epigenetic-reprogramming-actually-476076

Tim Friede snake venom article from Science: https://www.science.org/content/article/he-injected-himself-venom-decades-can-his-antibodies-help-snakebite-victims

Micro1: https://www.micro1.ai/

Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/

Station F Paris startup campus: https://stationf.co/

Japan Times: "PM Takaichi sleeps only 2-4 hours a night": https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/14/japan/politics/takaichi-sleep-overwork/

FDLI: "Japan's Regenerative Medicine Regulatory Pathways": https://www.fdli.org/2019/02/global-focus-japans-regenerative-medicine-regulatory-pathways-encouraging-innovation-and-patient-access/

FDA: "Right to Try": https://www.fda.gov/patients/learn-about-expanded-access-and-other-treatment-options/right-try

STAT News: "Are Blue Zones Real?": https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/04/are-blue-zones-real-new-scrutiny-longevity-hot-spots/

Timestamps:

0:00 Founder University is back in Japan!

4:05 What Ekei Labs does

5:13 Why Japan is a longevity hub

8:52 The AI biological moat

10:05 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

15:58 Right to try and the ethics of experimental therapies

22:30 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

24:49 Japan's fast-track regenerative medicine law

26:03 Raising in Japan vs. the US

31:32 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

40:44 Why Ekei killed a profitable service to focus

47:11 Have Blue Zones been debunked?

48:56 How socialization may extend lifespan

51:07 Founder Q&A: Booked vs. forecast revenue

55:42 Amazon's "bar raiser" framework

1:03:31 Social robots and loneliness

1:04:29 Jason on health and hustle culture

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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2026-07-22
Link to episode

The AI Securing Your Workforce Before a Mistake Ever Becomes a Breach | E2314

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

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Today's show:

*Cybersecurity has long focused on cleaning up a system AFTER a breach but Ent founder Brandon Dixon says that's backwards. He just raised a $100M seed round to put an AI agent on everyone's company laptops that catches the risky clicks, leaked files, or rogue agents BEFORE they wreck havoc.

PLUS Clawra creator David Im return swith his new project, Sume's Avatar, a multi-model orchestration layer that generates 60-second UGC videos from a single prompt… and gets it right on the first try, rather than falling back on trial and error.

Guests:

Brandon Dixon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonsdixon/

Ent: ****https://ent.ai/

David Im on X: https://x.com/davidim

Sume: https://www.sume.com/

Relevant Links:

WSJ: "Cyber Security Startup Ent Raises $100 Million in Seed Funding": https://www.wsj.com/pro/cybersecurity/cyber-startup-ent-raises-100-million-in-seed-funding-a3e9b6c6

Microsoft Security Copilot: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/ai-machine-learning/microsoft-security-copilot

Engadget: "Meta 'pausing' employee tracking program…": https://www.engadget.com/2199458/meta-is-pausing-employee-tracking-program-after-it-let-the-whole-company-see-sensitive-data/

Seedance 2.0: https://seedance2.ai/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro: Why AI + cybersecurity is the hot combo right now

2:29 How INT stops breaches before they happen

4:56 AI is giving non-technical employees dangerous new powers

10:26 Vanta - Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. Get $1,000 off for a limited time at https://www.vanta.com/twist

13:54 Why on-device AI beats cloud-based security

20:08 Superhuman - Get AI that works where you work. Unlock your Superhuman potential at https://superhuman.com

25:18 INT's business model and go-to-market

30:26 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

34:18 David M. of Sumi Labs: one-shotting AI video

36:10 Live demo: Sumi's video orchestration API

40:05 Consistent faces, 60-second videos, and who's buying

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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2026-07-20
Link to episode

The dawn of surgery bots + buy a home for $250 (w/ Andromeda & Mogul) | E2313

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent
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CLA
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https://MongoDB.com/ai

Today's show:

*Andromeda Surgical is building the autonomy layer that could one day allow robots to perform surgery. Rather than building their own intricate, complex hardware, Andromeda uses off-the-shelf arms from a German manufacturer, and focuses on the software that will allow doctors to operate it from an iPad.

Plus Mogul co-founder and CEO Alex Blackwood shows Jason how his platform lets anyone buy fractional shares of rental homes for as little as $250, earning monthly dividends, appreciation, and tax benefits without the headache of being someone's landlord.

It's a founder double feature on a brand new TWiST.

Guests:

Nick Damiano on X: https://x.com/nickdamian0

Andromeda Surgical: https://www.andromedasurgical.com/

Alex Blackwood on X: https://x.com/blackwoodtweets

Mogul: https://www.mogul.club/

Relevant Links:

KUKA: https://www.kuka.com/

Intuitive Surgical (and Da Vinci 5): https://www.intuitive.com/en-us

Neuralink: https://neuralink.com/

Padsplit: https://www.padsplit.com/

AngelList: https://www.angellist.com/

The Syndicate: https://thesyndicate.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 The iPad controlled surgery bot

5:46 Building "Google Maps for the body"

10:10 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

14:28 What is a "sous surgeon"

20:46 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou

24:30 The Neuralink connection

29:40 Understanding Mogul's business model

31:01 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

33:32 So who manages the homes?

36:50 Dividends vs. Appreciation

44:57 How Mogul picks markets

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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2026-07-17
Link to episode

A Startup Is Trying to Buy PayPal… Craziest Deal of 2026! | E2312

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Today's show:

Hustle Fund's Eric Bahn and Chapter One's Jeff Morris Jr. join our venture capital roundtable directly following the news breaking that Stripe wants to buy PayPal. The possible transaction highlights how little interest today's leading startups have in going public any time soon. With host Alex Wilhelm, Bahn and Morris dug into when startups should burn the boats à la Fin, physical AI as the next frontier, the power of Silicon Valley groupthink, and how startups are approaching the first days of widespread, company-specific AI evals!

Guest links:

Eric Bahn https://x.com/ericbahn

Hustle Fund https://www.hustlefund.vc

Jeff Morris Jr. https://x.com/jmj

Chapter One https://chapterone.com

Show links:

Stripe wants to buy PayPal https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/stripe-advent-offer-buy-paypal-more-than-53-billion-sources-say-2026-07-15/

Flex https://www.flex.one/

Webflow https://webflow.com/

Oak https://www.oak.id/

Fin selling to Salesforce https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2026/06/15/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-fin/

Erebor https://erebor.bank/

"Competition is for losers" https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers-1410535536

Chapter One piece on the value of software https://jamesin.substack.com/p/some-areas-weve-been-investing-in

Timestamps:

0:00 Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund) & Jeff Morris Jr. (Chapter One) join the show!

1:35 Stripe's reported $53B offer for PayPal

6:29 Why founders don't want to go public

10:08 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

15:16 When is it time to burn the boats?

20:12 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

21:16 Does VC need an AI revolution?

30:50 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

32:36 Custom evals, open source models, and avoiding vendor lock-in

36:37 Physical AI and robotics as the next frontier

37:42 Oak's $60M seed and startup clusters chasing agent infrastructure

40:43 Escaping the Silicon Valley "think tank"

48:28 Consumer AI's missing wave

1:00:18 AI regulation and how to get it right

1:12:01 Where to find our guests and wrap-up!

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2026-07-15
Link to episode

Jason turned $11 and one tweet into 1.1M views | E2311

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

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Today's show:

*Jason spent $11 building out PodMeme, an AI tool that tracks down the best segments from top podcasts about a specific topic, then stitches them together into a single stream. His post laying out how he did it, featuring a simple screenshot of the product, got all the way to 1.1M views in just a few days.

It's a simple fact: builders love to see what other people are building, and growing your new project "in public," sharing your journey on social media, is a great way to develop buzz around your product before it even exists.

Today's guest Thibault "Tibo" Louis-Lucas walks us through how he grew products like Tweet Hunter and Taplio on his social media account, using social media buzz and a focus on tools for creators to very quickly expand to over $1M ARR.

PLUS why Apple would only sue OpenAI if they knew they had them dead to rights… why Uber and Waymo are fighting over DC robotaxis… Jason's response to the public backlash against surveillance startup Flock Safety… and the guys remember iconic New Zealand actor Sam Neill.

Guest:

Tibo Louis-Lucas on X: https://x.com/tibo_maker

Tweet Hunter: https://tweethunter.io/

Taplio: https://taplio.com/

Relevant Links:

Lemlist: https://www.lemlist.com/

GRIN influencer marketing: https://grin.co/

TechCrunch: "Apple Sues OpenAI": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/10/apple-sues-openai-over-alleged-trade-secret-theft/

We Must Act Now statement: https://www.wemustactnow.ai/

TechCrunch: "Uber's Robotaxi Lobbying Effort": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/13/ubers-robotaxi-lobbying-effort-has-put-it-on-a-collision-course-with-waymo/

DC Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment of 2026: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/2003462

DoorDash: Meet Dot: https://about.doordash.com/en-us/dot

Flock Safety: https://www.flocksafety.com/

DeFlock: https://deflock.org/

Gigazine: Flock accuses Deflock of being a "terrorist org": https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20260209-flock-ceo-deflock/#gsc.tab=0

Unifi AI Security Systems: https://ui.com/physical-security

Jason's PodMeme post: https://x.com/Jason/status/2076231055443440105

Jason responds to Justine Bateman: https://x.com/Jason/status/2076326740050206959

NYT Sam Neill obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/movies/sam-neill-dead.html

"Possession" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLXW-oVbTxE

FanEdit: https://fanedit.org/forums/news-publisher/

"Manhunter" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLqHlg2fAnE

HBO "The Man Will Burn" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRhUYPtp6Ao

Timestamps:

0:00 There's no air conditioning in Paris
7:27 Tibo Maker's "ship 1 product a week" challenge
9:24 The power of building products in public
10:59 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST
12:04 Excitement for JCal's "PodMeme" set-up
15:40 Compounding an audience and enlisting influencers
19:13 Your follower count is not important any more
20:59 PayPal - Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all business. Visit https://paypalopen.com to get started
22:28 How Tibo got banned on LinkedIn twice
28:48 Apple sues OpenAI
30:59 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
38:44 How OpenAI should have handled the New York Times
45:10 DC's new robotaxi bill
52:06 Managing the AV and delivery-bot transition
53:23 Economists warn of AI job displacement
1:07:00 How Jason would fix Flock's messaging
1:17:26 Remembering Sam Neill
1:23:05 Lon's Dream AI edit
1:26:35 HBO's Burning Man docuseries

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

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Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-07-13
Link to episode

Danny Bernstein left Big Tech to fund farm-bots | E2310

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

NetSuite
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Squarespace
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Today's show:

*America posted 400,000 farm jobs last year, and fewer than 1% got a single domestic applicant. Danny Bernstein of Reservoir believes it's time to start automating this backbreaking labor, like picking stone fruit in 110°F temperatures. So he built the world's first on-farm robotics incubator on 40 acres of California farmland. Here's why he argues that automating farms isn't just a new opportunity, it's a national security issue.

PLUS Jason responded to Gal Shir's viral "AI beat me at design" tweet, got into a kerfuffle with Figma CEO Dylan Field, and wound up making a brand new J-Trade. AND we're talking about the Dept. of Education's new "do no harm" policy, the Brown University AI cheating chart that's blowing up social media, and Lon has fresh streaming recommendations in an all-new Off Duty.

Guest:

Danny Bernstein on X: https://x.com/bernsteind

Reservoir Farms: https://reservoir.co/

Reservoir VC: https://reservoir.vc/

Relevant Links:

Bonsai Robotics: https://bonsairobotics.ai/

Root AI acquired by AppHarvest: https://www.therobotreport.com/root-ai-acquired-by-appharvest-for-60m/

John Deere: https://www.deere.com/en-us/

Western Growers Association: https://www.wga.com/

Tanimura & Antle: https://www.taproduce.com/

Naturipe Berry Growers: https://www.naturipefarms.com/

Driscoll's: https://www.driscolls.com/

Taylor Farms: https://www.taylorfarms.com/

The Wonderful Company: https://www.wonderful.com/

Capital Factory: https://www.capitalfactory.com/

Gal Shir "quitting design" post: https://x.com/galshirart/status/2074854464729629060

Dylan Field response to Gal Shir: https://x.com/zoink/status/2075290218660298807

JCal response to Field and "J-Trade": https://x.com/Jason/status/2075481565115654305

Figma: https://www.figma.com/

Dept. of Education: "Do No Harm" policy announcement: https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-issues-final-rule-hold-all-colleges-and-universities-accountable-low-earning-programs

NPR coverage on Dept. of Education earnings test: https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/nx-s1-5835631/turner-camhi-do-no-harm-college-loans

Paul Graham "cheating chart" post: https://x.com/paulg/status/2075031014628311236

Off Duty Recommendations:

"Lioness" on Paramount+: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNRQ0PR4a8U

"Mayor of Kingstown" on Paramount+: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkQzvwxOp0s

"Human Vapor" on Netflix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xe6dRKVAb8

"Sugar" on Apple TV+: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvPGxuEOEA

"Wind River" (now on Netflix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgN0dpFoaE

"Not Fade Away" by Peter Barton & Laurence Shames: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Fade-Away-Short-Lived/dp/1579546889

Timestamps:

0:00 Jason's ongoing World Tour

1:43 Danny Bernstein joins live from Reservoir Farms

3:38 What is "specialty crop agriculture"

5:15 Why strawberries are the "white whale" of AgTech

6:55 The labor crisis in farming

9:20 Why AgTech never scaled

9:51 NetSuite - For the first time, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to https://NetSuite.ai/TWIST

10:51 Inside Reservoir's business model

17:44 Agriculture as national security

20:09 Squarespace - Turn your idea into a beautiful website! Go to https://www.squarespace.com/twist for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

22:15 Did AI beat a designer at design?

30:56 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

37:23 The "do no harm" college earnings test

43:27 Brown University students cheated on their midterms

52:22 Lon's streaming recommendations

59:46 Jason's new snake grabber

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2026-07-10
Link to episode

Why Data Is the Next $1 Trillion Market

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Digital Ocean - do.co/twist

Agree.com - agree.com

Every.io - every.io.

Today's show:

How many startups matter in tech? Fewer than you think. That's why venture capitalists are tripping over themselves to get onto their cap tables, no matter the cost. Why? Footwork's Nikhil Basu Trivedi argues that the Valley has never been more "power-law-pilled" than it is today. Basu Trivedi joined Cendana Capital's Michael Kim and TWiST's Alex Wilhelm to go deep on secondary markets, the state of startup M&A, why the SaaSpocalypse may be temporary, and what could trigger a retrenchment of the AI trade. It's Wednesday, so it's time for our venture capital roundtable to go deep on how VCs are investing today, and where on the horizon they have their eyes fixed!

Guest links:

Nikhil Basu Trivedi https://x.com/nbt

Footwork https://www.footwork.vc/

Michael Kim https://x.com/MKRocks

Cendana Capital https://www.cendanacapital.com/

Show links:

The USVC-Anduril blowup https://x.com/ankurnagpal/status/2072701195714531398

Kline Hill Cendana Partners https://www.secondariesinvestor.com/kline-hill-and-cendana-raise-400m-for-second-vc-secondaries-fund/

GPTZero's exit https://gptzero.me/news/preserving-whats-human/

Salesforce buys Fin https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2026/06/15/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-fin/

Vercel buys Better Auth https://vercel.com/blog/vercel-acquires-better-auth

Figma buys Bud https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/07/figma-acquires-team-behind-a-vibe-coding-app/

Protoge https://withprotege.ai/

Windborne https://windbornesystems.com/

Etched https://www.etched.com/

Lovable's reported raise https://sifted.eu/articles/lovable-300m-13-2bn-valuation

Josh Browder https://x.com/Joshuabrowder

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction: Nikhil Basu Trivedi (Footwork) & Michael Kim (Cendana Capital)

1:59 The Anduril vs. USVC secondary market blowup

4:08 Why Silicon Valley is 'power-law-pilled'

8:23 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

9:37 Information asymmetry in the secondary markets

9:45 Every.io — For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

15:02 Is SPV fraud smoke or fire?

16:32 Superhuman acquires GPTZero

19:54 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

21:10 The M&A wave

27:19 The SaaSpocalypse debate

29:59 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

30:44 Data's moment in the energy → compute → data loop

35:01 Where will AI value accrue?

40:04 What could cause an AI correction?

42:17 Why some companies are "too big to miss"

46:23 China's possible open-weight model ban

53:28 Young founders: Etched, Thiel Fellows, Z Fellows, Neo

55:33 Portfolio spotlight: WindBorne's weather balloons and data moat

58:47 Michael's favorite fund manager: Josh Browder

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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Bill.com: https://www.bill.com/

2026-07-08
Link to episode

$100T is managed by "human duct tape" | E2308

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

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Sentry https://sentry.io/twist

Today's show:

*There are $100 trillion in global assets sitting on top of what Hanover Park co-founder/CEO Chris Hladczuk calls "human duct tape": armies of accountants in offices patching together work from various legacy tools (QuickBooks, Excel) that are holding funds' own data hostage. Can all of this be replaced with AI? Find out how their startup went from overseeing $1B to $20B in assets in just 15 months.

PLUS, we flash back to March 2020, when Jason and Figma co-founder/CEO Dylan Field broke down the design tool's initial go-to-market strategy, made some WILDLY inaccurate COVID predictions, and considered anxiety about "SaaS burnout" years before the category went full apocalyptic.

Guests:

Chris Hladczuk on X: https://x.com/chrishlad

Hanover Park: https://www.hanoverpark.com/

Dylan Field: https://x.com/zoink

Figma: https://www.figma.com/

Relevant Links:

Turner Novak on X: https://x.com/TurnerNovak

Banana Capital: https://www.bananacapital.vc/

Emergence Capital: https://www.emcap.com/

Lux Capital: https://www.luxcapital.com/

Susa Ventures: https://susaventures.com/

METR: https://metr.org/

Granola AI note taker: https://www.granola.ai/

Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/

Foo Camp on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/foocamp

TechCrunch Mahalo coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/27/inside-mobile-news-launch/

Timestamps:

0:00 Hanover Park & the fund admin problem

3:32 Why funds outsource instead of building

5:44 Why fund accounting is so complex

10:38 The "one-click migration" goal

13:51 Context vs. intelligence gaps

16:11 No PMs, No Designers

20:46 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

23:18 This is a $100T opportunity

25:36 Flashback w/ Dylan Field of Figma

29:15 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

31:22 Pre-AI enterprise security worries

36:30 SaaS overload and SaaS burnout

37:30 The evolution of Figma pricing

42:38 The rise and fall of Mahalo dot com

51:38 The work-from-home revolution begins

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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2026-07-06
Link to episode

Why the VC Hype Cycle Always Gets It Wrong | VC Roundtable | E2307

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

CLA - www.claconnect.com/withyou

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Today's show:

Forget the triple-triple-double-double-double; the new bar for startups hoping to raise venture capital has reached the stratosphere, though our venture panel is worried that startups are focusing too much on today's problems that may not become companies tomorrow. During a lively VC roundtable, Cowboy's Aileen Lee, Floodgate's Mike Maples, and Lerer Hippeau's Ben Lerer joined Alex to dig into exiting pre-AI startups, rising valuations, token spend, why they are keeping their funds small, and whether the government just tripped OpenAI and Anthropic!

Guest Links:

Aileen Lee https://x.com/aileenlee

Cowboy VC https://cowboy.vc

Mike Maples https://x.com/m2jr

Floodgate https://www.floodgate.com

Bene Lerer https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjlerer

Lere Hippeau https://www.lererhippeau.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Aileen Lee, Mike Maples, and Ben Lerer join the show

5:13 Venture liquidity returns: what SpaceX/Stripe distributions mean for LPs

9:13 Bending Spoons prices IPO at $29/share, roughly $18.4B valuation

10:31 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

12:09 "Companies get bought, not sold" — Ben on taking first offers seriously

17:41 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

19:34 Mutiny's burn-the-boats AI pivot with Jaleh Rezaei

20:19 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

22:15 Mike's KeepSafe story: the "rule of 70" and profit-first companies

25:12 The new growth bar: 5x, 4x replaces triple-triple-double-double

28:55 Fund size is your strategy: why Floodgate and Lerer Hippeau stay small

30:11 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou

37:39 The $100M Series A: Starcloud, General Intuition, Scale Cognition, Scout AI

40:35 King-making rounds and why mega-seeds destroy optionality

54:11 Open-weight models: the GLM-5.2 moment and going model-agnostic

55:30 Why fine-tuning open models is a treadmill, with Cursor/Kimi as an example

1:03:28 Grading the Trump administration on Mythos and Fable

1:06:33 Rising anti-AI sentiment, the wealth gap, and lessons from social media

1:11:43 Raising kids in the post-intelligence era

1:12:35 Where to find the panel and what each firm is investing in

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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2026-07-01
Link to episode

Chamath on why young people need more agency, risk, and adventure

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Plaud
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Shopify
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https://LinkedIn.com/twist

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Today's show:

*It's another All Star Summer, as we welcome back some of our favorite guests from throughout "This Week in Startups" history.

Chamath Palihapitiya's development platform 8090 just raised $135 million, and he's using it to go after a $4 trillion market: the software maintenance, migration, and middleware spending that's currently "pure waste" for enterprises.

Find out why the All-In Podcast bestie says every company should use AI to build custom software the way that Google, Facebook, and Meta already do, then go inside Software Factory, the "system on a chip" organizational model, and why Chamath believes AI will allow every human on Earth to start their own company.

Guest:

Chamath on X: https://x.com/chamath

8090: https://www.8090.ai/

Learn With Me on Substack: https://chamath.substack.com/p/learn-with-me

Drink With Me: https://www.drinkwithme.com/age-verify.html

All-In Podcast: https://allin.com/

Social Capital: https://www.socialcapital.com/

Relevant Links:

8090 Series A announcement: https://x.com/chamath/status/2071571183665881515

Salesforce Ventures: https://salesforceventures.com/

Craft Ventures: https://www.craftventures.com/

The Production Board: https://www.tpb.co/

WNDR: https://www.wndr.vc/

LAUNCH: https://www.launch.co

Coatue Management: https://www.coatue.com/

Jack Dorsey: "From Hierarchy to Intelligence": https://block.xyz/inside/from-hierarchy-to-intelligence

Thomas Keller's The French Laundry: https://thomaskeller.com/tfl/

Timestamps:

0:00 It's TWiST All-Star Summer!

0:44 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

3:21 Chamath's origin story

7:54 Tom Sawyer entrepreneurship

11:29 Shopify - Turn those What If's into sales with the ecommerce platform powering millions of businesses. Sign up for your $1-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/twist

16:25 The $5 trillion software market

21:06 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist

25:00 Building "a co-founder for every human"

31:51 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

35:00 How product development lost its way

45:00 Regulated industries are the beachhead

50:00 Raising the $135M Series A

55:00 8090's "System on a Chip" model

1:04:44 What to tell your kids about AI

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Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

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2026-06-29
Link to episode

Why F1 Teams are Replacing Wind Tunnels with Smart Tape | E2305

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistSentry - https://sentry.io/twistNorthwest Registered Agent-https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistDigitalOcean - https://do.co/twist

Today's show:

F1 teams spend up to a third of their budgets on aerodynamics, often utilizing wind tunnels to simulate what happens on the track.

But Lyall Davenport of SKN Systems created a sensor-embedded tape that sticks directly to race cars as they drive around the real world, generating 420M data points per hour. And it comes in at roughly 95% less cost than running a full simulator.

Hear about how Lyall's background in racing helped him develop the concept, plans to expand from motorsports to drones and defense, and his experiences going through Jason's various programs.

PLUS OpenAI's new models are so good, you can't use them. Why Apple's Vision Pro chief defected to OpenAI (and why their laptops and devices are getting more expensive). A look at the world's most annoying data center in Sterling, Virginia. And Jason remembers iconic and influential tech journalist Om Malik.

Guest:

Lyall Davenport: https://x.com/Lyalldavenport

SKN Systems: https://www.skn.systems/

Timestamps:

0:00 How SKN uses tape to generate aerodynamic data

4:04 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

6:17 How SKN uses tape to generate aerodynamic data

9:55 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

17:20 F1 teams are worth HOW MUCH?

19:42 Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

20:35 Future markets beyond motorsports

30:03 DigitalOcean - Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

32:45 GPT-5.6 is banned for now

43:46 Vision Pro chief makes for the exit

51:24 Apple raises their prices

56:05 The data center you're allowed to hate

1:06:04 Zuck's new prediction market app

1:08:42 RIP Om Malik (1966-2026)

1:19:50 Streaming and camera recommendations

1:28:06 All about eFoiling

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Follow Lon:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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2026-06-27
Link to episode

Why the Future of Video Games is Moving Back to the Dinner Table

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Deel - deel.com/twist

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LinkedIn - linkedIn.com/twist

Today's show:

Jason sits down with Brynn Putnam, CEO and founder of Board, to learn more about her company's tabletop gaming console. The pair talks about how to raise capital for yet-to-launch hardware projects, the screen-time debate, and how Board is approaching building or buying IP for its family-friendly games. Next, Alex got Heremus's AJ Piplica on the horn to chat hypersonic, autonomous jets. The startup's technology bridges the gap between rockets and airplanes, and may represent the future of warfare, yes, but also fast freight!

Guest Links:

Brynn Putnam https://x.com/BrynnPutnam

Board https://board.fun/

Board Series A announcement https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/02/board-the-new-game-startup-from-mirror-founder-brynn-putnam-raises-20m-has-already-sold-thousands/

Mirror https://www.lululemonstudio.com/

AJ Piplica https://x.com/AJ_Piplica

Heremus https://www.hermeus.com/

Heremus Series C announcement https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hermeus-reaches-1-billion-valuation-with-350-million-raise-to-build-todays-fastest-aircraft-for-the-american-warfighter-302735273.html

Timestamps:

0:00 Board's Brynn Putnam joins the show

2:54 Board's proprietary AI software stack

6:43 Why Board manufactures in Mexico (not China)

9:21 LinkedIn: Thanks to our partners at LinkedIn! Post your job for free at https://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant.

9:42 How to raise a Seed round for hardware without a finished product

15:26 Brynn's daughter and the mermaid example

17:09 Can Board limit screen time fears?

18:47 Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

22:54 Selling the first 10,000 units

28:38 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

29:42 Why Board is steering away from simple ports toward native IP experiences

35:32 Hermeus's AJ Piplica joins the show

35:32 What is Dark Horse?

43:48 Commercial applications: Cargo, organs, flowers, and trans-Atlantic in 90 minutes

47:47 Commercial applications: Cargo, organs, flowers, and trans-Atlantic in 90 minutes

57:00 Dark Horse range and the "reusable first stage" analogy

58:42 Dark Horse range and the "reusable first stage" analogy

1:02:42 $350M Series C led by Khosla; total funding now exceeds $500M

1:03:39 The SpaceX model: get customers to fund your R&D

1:07:47 Closing: the American Dynamism pitch

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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2026-06-24
Link to episode

The hottest running app has nothing to do with speed | E2303

This Week In Startups is made possible by:Agree - https://agree.comQuo - https://quo.com/TWiSTSuperhuman - https://superhuman.comToday's show:In this double-header, Jason and Lon chat with Louis Phillips, founder of the gamified running app INTVL, which turns a quick job around the block into a worldwide turf war competition. Find out how he grew the app to over 1 million downloads without any paid ads, just making videos from his home office.PLUS Alex sits down with Alice Zhang, CEO of Verge Labs, which pivoted from making drugs to building the AI infrastructure that helps pharma companies develop their own treatments. Find out how they accumulated one of the world's largest proprietary brain datasets and why brain tissue is the "LiDAR of neuroscience."Guests:INTVL: https://www.intvl.com.au/INTVL on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intvl.appLouis Phillips on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louisphillips12Verge Labs: https://vergelabs.com/Alice Zhang on X: https://x.com/AliceXinliZhangRelevant LinksMeta's Ad Library: https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/Strava: https://www.strava.com/Pokémon Go: https://pokemongo.com/Fitbod: https://fitbod.me/Tonebase: https://www.tonebase.co/Calm: https://www.calm.com/Hamilton Island official site: https://www.hamiltonisland.com.au/"Mr. Inbetween" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EooRG3QhQOYArticle: "Verge Genomics Rebrands as Verge Labs": https://trial.medpath.com/news/verge-genomics-rebrands-as-verge-labs-following-als-drug-trial-failure-pivots-to-ai-driven-target-discoveryEli Lilly: https://www.lilly.com/Chai Discovery: https://www.chaidiscovery.com/Noetik: https://www.noetik.ai/Tempus: https://www.tempus.com/Timestamps:0:00 Louis on building in Melbourne, Australia

7:44 Why INTVL ignores how fast you run

9:59 Agree - Stop chasing invoices at https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

15:52 Using gamification for good

19:10 Powering INTVL's impressive growth

19:55 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST

26:16 The future of TWiST Australia

27:14 Will AI ever cure cancer?

27:54 Inside Verge's rebrand

30:31 Superhuman - Get AI that works where you work. Unlock your Superhuman potential at https://superhuman.com

32:01 Brain tissue as "ground truth"

36:01 Why brain tissue is so valuable as data

43:52 Verge's Eli Lilly partnership

51:34 "You're going to tell me when I'm going to die"

56:11 How AI could impact drug prices

58:19 Clinical trial FAILS and how to move onSubscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comSubscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcpFollow Lon:X: https://x.com/lonsFollow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelmFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisCheck out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarlandCheck out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanisFollow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartupsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: https://twistartups.substack.com

2026-06-22
Link to episode

Why SpaceX Buying Cursor Changes Everything

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Deel - deel.com/twist

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Northwest Registered Agent - northwestregisteredagent.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist

Today's show:

Anthropic stabbed Cursor in the back. Then SpaceX swooped in with $60 billion. Today, TWiST connects the dots on the biggest deal in AI since the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership, and why it's a warning sign for every startup building on top of a frontier model. Jason is joined by Bling Capital's Ben Ling, Banana Capital's Turner Novak, and co-host Alex to go deep on the future of coding models, the current golden age of venture liquidity, OpenAI's financials, and the 'Four Ds' of venture investing. The show closes with a tribute to Josh Baer, the founder of Capital Factory.

Guest Links:

Ben Ling https://x.com/bling0?lang=en

Bling Capital https://www.blingcap.com/

Turner Novak https://x.com/TurnerNovak

Banana Capital https://www.bananacapital.vc/

Show Links:

Hanover Park https://www.hanoverpark.com/

SpaceX buys Cursor https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/16/spacex-spcx-cursor-acquisition-ipo.html

Cursor Composer 2.5 https://cursor.com/blog/composer-2-5

OpenAI financials source https://www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/

AMD's new deskside data center https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/desktops/ryzen/ryzen-ai-halo.html

Perplexity Model Council https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-model-council

Timestamps:

0:00 Guest introductions

1:15 Guest introductions

2:43 SpaceX acquires Cursor for $60B

6:13 The golden era of M&A

9:13 Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

12:04 Cursor's negative gross margins & the compute problem

13:22 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

15:04 Rolling your own model: When does it make sense?

19:35 LinkedIn: Thanks to our partners at LinkedIn! Post your job for free at https://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant.

22:53 The "headless product" thesis

28:31 Deel: Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

34:22 OpenAI financials leaked: $13B revenue, $38.5B net loss

40:13 Where does AI value accumulate?

45:34 Portfolio Spotlight: Hanover Park

48:37 Seed stage graduation rates have fallen from 50% to 25%

54:59 The four Ds of venture: Deal flow, Decisions, Doubling down, Distributions

1:06:36 How to find 'undiscovered gems'

1:30:59 Snap Specs AR glasses: $2,195, and a bit chunky

1:39:29 Tribute to Joshua Baer, Capital Factory's founder

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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2026-06-18
Link to episode

The Startup Building the First Hotel on the Moon…

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

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Today's show:

The next SpaceX won't be building rockets; it'll build the first hotel on the Moon. Today on TWiST, GRU Space founder Skyler Chan brings a brick made from lunar soil into the studio and lays out a plan to manufacture on the Moon as early as next year. We get into the science, the business model, and the regulatory land-grab ahead!

Then, the US government forces Anthropic to pull Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Jason and Lon unpack what it means when a single AI model can vanish overnight, and the US government's emergency order.

Stick around for the winner (or winners?!) of the $5,000 AI podcast-companion bounty!

Timestamps:

0:00 Knicks playoff run, San Antonio & Texas BBQ (Black's vs. Terry Black's)

8:23 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

9:52 Guest intro: Skyler Chan, GRU Space — and the lunar-soil brick

10:29 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

12:14 Why the next SpaceX builds habitats, not rockets

15:18 NASA's $20B moon-base signal & the TRL contracting path

16:13 Business model: from construction contractor to owning lunar land

18:06 Building the hotel robotically + $1M refundable deposits

20:00 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

31:09 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

39:28 News: US government blocks Anthropic's Fable 5 & Mythos 5

41:34 The politics: Hegseth, Sacks, Jassy & the "conspiracy" angle

1:09:39 Why no single model dependency is safe (multi-model harnesses)

1:18:47 Bounty results: MySidecast wins $3,000

1:19:07 Honorable mentions: Couchverse (Lemon Slice) & Convalenz

1:29:44 Next bounty: the Annotated app

🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned:

Guest & company

Skyler Chan: Founder, GRU Space → https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/galactic-resource-utilization-space-inc-gru-space

GRU Space (Galactic Resource Utilization): YC startup building lunar-regolith bricks and a robotic Moon hotel → https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/galactic-resource-utilization-space-inc-gru-space

GRU Space lunar hotel bookings → https://payloadspace.com/gru-space-opens-bookings-for-planned-lunar-hotel/

🎙️ About the Guest:

Skyler Chan is the founder of GRU Space (Galactic Resource Utilization), a Y Combinator–backed startup developing a payload factory that manufactures bricks from lunar regolith to build the first robotic hotel on the Moon.

Follow GRU Space → https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/galactic-resource-utilization-space-inc-gru-space

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Follow Lon:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-06-15
Link to episode

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Pilot https://pilot.com/twist

Agree https://agree.com

IM8 Health https://IM8health.com/twist

After watching Elon build out his rocket (and AI) company over the past 20 years, Jason celebrates the SpaceX IPO on a new TWiST. He explains why some investments are evaluated based on earnings and current numbers, while other stocks are bets on expensive visions for the future, and why SpaceX why likely pay off across multiple time horizons.

PLUS Polsia solo founder Ben Cera is back with guidance for founders on creating a "Purple Cow": a unique experience that makes their brand memorable.

Guest:

Ben Cera on X: https://x.com/Bencera

Polsia: https://polsia.com/

Polsia on X: https://x.com/polsia

Ben on TWiST E2256 (Feb 2026): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCce8e02Isw

Relevant Links:

SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/

SPCX on Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SPCX/

Starlink: https://www.starlink.com/

Planet Labs: https://www.planet.com/

Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/

Valor Equity Partners: https://www.valorep.com/

Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-New-Transform-Remarkable/dp/1591843170

Uber Ice Cream stunt article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ubers-brilliant-marketing-stunt-hail-195946535.html

Hillsborough Flintstones House article: https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/The-Flintstone-House-is-now-for-rent-on-Airbnb-10420107.php

"19 Hours Inside the Airbnb X-Mansion" article: https://www.theringer.com/2024/05/29/pop-culture/x-mansion-airbnb-x-men-icons-experience

Was The Pepsi Challenge based on LIES? https://www.historyoasis.com/post/the-pepsi-challenge

CloudKitchens: https://cloudkitchens.com/

Cluely: https://cluely.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 SpaceX IPO details

2:12 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

7:21 The voting vs. weighing investment framework

9:41 Pilot: Focus on your product, let Pilot handle your bookkeeping. Pilot provides the most reliable accounting, CFO, and tax services for startups and small businesses. Head to https://pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.

19:53 Agree - Stop chasing invoices at https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

22:25 The media's SpaceX criticisms and "hot takes"

23:54 Ben Cera of Polsia is back

26:53 Why Jason says no to a free tier

29:10 IM8 Health: Start feeling like your best self every day. Go to https://IM8health.com/twist and use the code TWiST to get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order.

34:27 The wisdom of Seth Godin's "Purple Cow"

50:37 The "Pepsi Challenge" model

1:05:45 Lon got a dog, Jason got routers

1:10:37 The YouTuber to movie theater pipeline

1:15:20 Jason's new favorite travel bag

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-06-13
Link to episode

Why the most expensive Seed deals are the cheapest | E2299

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Two days before SpaceX launches the largest IPO in history at a flat $135/share, our VC roundtable drops a scorcher: The top 1% of seed deals might actually be underpriced. Plus: the "Sequoia scam" dual-tranche controversy, tokens-for-equity deals, and whether Claude Fable 5 is a true step function.

Tomasz Tunguz (Theory Ventures), Michael Downing (Castalia Capital), and Paige Doherty (Behind Genius Ventures) join Alex to go deep on Seed investing, startup economics, AI spend, and the impact of smarter AI on the founder journey.

Guest Links:

Tomasz Tunguz: https://x.com/ttunguz

Theory Ventures: https://theoryvc.com/

Michael Downing: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldowning/

Castalia Capital: https://castalia.capital/

Paige Doherty: https://x.com/paigefinnn

Behind Genius Ventures: https://www.behindgeniusventures.com

Show Links:

Anthropic's IPO announcement: https://www.anthropic.com/news/confidential-draft-s1-sec

OpenAI's IPO announcement: https://openai.com/index/openai-submits-confidential-s-1/

Bending Spoons F-1 filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2004711/000110465926071170/tm2613674-7_f1.htm

SpaceX IPO filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026040364/spaceexplorationtechnologib.htm

Brendan Foody's post on Sequoia: https://x.com/BrendanFoody/status/2063470286515683759

Claude Fable 5: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-fable-5-mythos-5

OpenRouter data on Chinese models: https://openrouter.ai/rankings?view=day

Saronic: https://www.saronic.com/

MotherDuck: https://motherduck.com/

Nox Metals: https://noxmetals.co/

Timestamps:

0:00 Tomasz Tunguz, Michael Downing & Paige Doherty join

2:07 The SpaceX IPO and the IPO window

4:22 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

6:30 The new bar: 10x growth (not 3x) to raise a great Series A

8:46 Net-new AI budgets

9:46 Squarespace: Turn your idea into a beautiful website! Go to https://www.squarespace.com/twist for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

11:09 How some founders are outgrowing venture capital

11:44 The power pendulum swings back to founders

12:46 SpaceX vs. OpenAI vs. Anthropic: Which IPO is most enticing?

19:53 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

26:07 Tokens-for-equity, GPU-hours-for-equity & the financialization of compute

28:35 Founders airing VC dirty laundry (napping VCs included)

29:56 Netsuite - The business landscape is very chaotic right now. That's why you need NetSuite, by Oracle. Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://Netsuite.com/TWiST

36:38 Claude Fable 5 first impressions: pricing, benchmarks & orchestration

45:42 Where value accrues: application layer vs. models vs. private data

1:00:06 Nationalization of AI labs: Bernie Sanders, Sam Altman & Trump agree?!

1:01:25 Portfolio spotlights: Saronic, MotherDuck, and Nox Metals

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

2026-06-10
Link to episode

The AI Tutor That Makes Kids Actually Think | E2298

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

LinkedIn Jobs https://LinkedIn.com/twist

Shopify https://shopify.com/twist

Today's show:

*Schools teach kids to memorize formulas. AI helps them skip thinking entirely. Brilliant founder Sue Khim joins TWiST to tell us how her new AI tutor, Koji, uses the Socratic Method to help students solve complex problems on their own. Find out why she says "People aren't anti-AI. They're anti-being replaced and anti-slop."

PLUS Jason's take on the VC horror stories going around X… and his own anecdote about the tenacity and passion of legendary investor John Doerr.

Guest:

Sue Khim on X: https://x.com/suekhim

Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/

Viral Koji launch video: https://x.com/suekhim/status/2060378988606878147

Relevant Links:

Viral Greg Isenberg post about VCs: https://x.com/gregisenberg/status/2061794787825479818

Travis Kalanick's story: https://x.com/travisk/status/2062224472426365045

Matthew Prince's stories: https://x.com/eastdakota/status/2062860530360959273

John Doerr on X: https://x.com/johndoerr

Roelof Botha on X: https://x.com/roelofbotha

Michael Moritz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmoritz/

Mohr Davidow Ventures: https://mdv.com/

Jason's book "Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups": https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Invest-Technology-Startups-Timeless-Investor/dp/0062560700

Timestamps:

0:00 Sue Khim's Alltuition origin story

1:41 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

4:10 Brilliant: from launch to product market pull

10:46 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

15:08 Pricing against tutors, not apps

19:25 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist

21:22 Koji demo

24:11 Keeping Brilliant local while expanding

30:22 Shopify - Turn those What Ifs into sales with the e-commerce platform powering millions of businesses. Sign up for your $1-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/twist

40:10 Every founder has a VC horror story

44:33 John Doerr went the extra mile to hear JCal's pitch

52:55 The LAUNCH investment strategy

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-06-08
Link to episode

Anthropic wants to slow AI down and Bernie wants 50%: JCal Reacts | E2297

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Today's show:

Anthropic wrote a blog post calling for a global AI slowdown. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants the government to seize 50% of every major AI company's stock. Find out why JCal is reconsidering universal basic (or even high!) income policies, and why he thinks the 2028 presidential election will likely come down to AI policies.

PLUS a live ComfyUI demo from founder Yoland Yan. Find out why the free-to-use open-source node-based platform has become a crucial part of millions of designers' and VFX experts' workflows, and how their tool has been used to create everything from "The Wizard of Oz" at the Vegas Sphere to those viral Coca-Cola holiday ads.

Guest

Yoland Yan: http://x.com/yoland_yan

ComfyUI: https://comfy.org/

AI Models and Tools

Ideogram 4.0: https://ideogram.ai/models/4.0/

Stable Diffusion: https://stability.ai/

LTX Video: https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video

LoRa: https://huggingface.co/docs/diffusers/training/lora

Google Veo: https://deepmind.google/models/veo/

Relevant Links:

Anthropic: "When AI Builds Itself": https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement

Bernie Sanders: "The Public Should Own Half of the Big AI Companies": https://www.sanders.senate.gov/op-eds/the-public-should-own-half-of-the-big-a-i-companies/

Bloomberg: "Sam Altman-Backed Group Completes Largest US Study on Basic Income": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-22/ubi-study-backed-by-openai-s-sam-altman-bolsters-support-for-basic-income

Timestamps:

0:00 Guest 1: Yoland Yan, ComfyUI — live demo intro

2:06 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

4:34 Guest 1: Yoland Yan, ComfyUI — live demo intro

9:47 Grasshopper Bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to https://grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account.

20:05 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

22:24 What is Outpainting?

30:01 Render - Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

32:13 Jason's insider sales team advice

38:42 LA mayoral race: Bass vs. Pratt

42:25 Anthropic wants AI to slow down?

48:45 Will Sen. Sanders' argument resonate with the public?

59:39 Why 2028 will be the AI jobs election

1:05:32 Brian Chesky's new AI lab

1:15:21 Jason's "Mandalorian and Grogu" review

1:18:53 YouTubers take over the box office

1:24:16 Dean Potter vs. Alex Honnold

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-06-06
Link to episode

The project SpaceX's first employee raised $500M for

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Today's show:

Want to get to space? Several launch companies can help you. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, the Russians, the list goes on. But what about once you make it upstairs, then what? Impulse Space CEO and CTO Tom Mueller is building the next stage of our orbital economy. With its Mira and Helios spacecraft, we'll soon be able to take mass from lower orbits to higher orbits, or even to the Moon, with ease.

Meanwhile, venture capitalists are enamored with the idea of humanoid robots — robots share our shape, our work environment, and even our tools. But startups like Dusty Robotics are taking a different tack; instead of building human-shaped robots, Dusty has built a small, wheeled 'bot that can mark out building sites quickly and accurately. And it's doing more revenue than all humanoid robotics companies combined, I reckon. Dusty's CEO, Dr. Tessa Lau, joins Alex to go deep on purpose-built robots in today's build-crazy market.

Timestamps:

0:00 Blue Origin, and why fixing things in orbit is hard

2:19 What Mira is and what it does

4:35 Why was the commercial demand for Mira softer than expected

5:20 Space Force demand and the GEO-capable Mira

7:08 Helios: a "rocket on top of a rocket."

10:10 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

11:35 How Helios beats Falcon Heavy on price ($25M)

13:35 Reusability, in-orbit refueling, and propellant depots

15:38 Landers, the Moon base, and "Mega Helios."

18:52 NSSL and the politics of flying government payloads

20:16 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

20:51 Why the Moon matters: megastructures and data centers in space

25:09 The space talent market and the SpaceX "mafia."

30:16 Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Thank you to our partners:

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-06-03
Link to episode

This Startup Fused Human Brain Cells with Silicon Chips | E2295

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Today's show:

Cortical Labs is the world's first company selling biological computers. Their CL1 fuses lab-grown human neurons (derived from stem cells, not actual folks) with silicon hardware to create Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI).

Founder Dr. Hon Weng Chong walks us through how the system works and why neurons are more efficient than GPUs at reinforcement learning. (Also… is this computer alive?)

PLUS Pyka co-founder and CEO Michael Norcia explains the various uses for his autonomous aircraft, from crop-spraying drones in Brazil to a a hybrid-electric defense UAV for the military.

Guests:

Cortical Labs: ****https://corticallabs.com/

Dr. Hon Weng Chong on X: https://x.com/dr1337

Pyka: https://www.flypyka.com/

Pyka on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flypyka/?hl=en

How to Raise a Seed Round in 2026: Ask Jason | E2294

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Today's show:

Jason breaks down the real math behind raising a seed round. Here's the funnel: contact 150 firms, get 50 first meetings, convert 2o into second meetings, and close 2 term sheets.

PLUS Jason responds to viewer questions about why hardware is no longer a dirty word for investors, how to differentiate your startup from frontier-model companies like OpenAI, even when they're in your niche. Plus a pitch for "Founder Community College," and anecdotes from Lon's European odyssey.

Thanks for the Questions:

Richard Corral: CEO of Quanto: https://quanto.co/

ØnProtons on X: https://x.com/0nProtons

SergeDawg on X: https://x.com/sergedawg

Mahika Golani

Peridot: https://www.tryperidot.com/

Shawn Sully on X: https://x.com/aroogle

Programs and Accelerators Mentioned:

Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/

Techstars: https://www.techstars.com/

Antler: https://www.antler.co/

PearX: https://pear.vc/pearx/

Sequoia ARC: https://www.sequoiacap.com/arc/

Kauffman Fellows: https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/

Companies and Startups Referenced:

Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/

Knightscope: https://knightscope.com/

Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/

Cafe X: https://www.cafexapp.com/

Media Referenced:

New Yorker Sam Altman profile: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted

Off-Duty Recommendations

Terra Kaffe Demi compact automatic espresso machine: https://www.terrakaffe.com/products/tk-demi

Osteria Pastella (Florence, Italy): https://www.osteriapastella.it/

Timestamps:

0:00 Inside the TWiST private group chat

3:25 How to react when an investor says your "too early."

6:50 The ultimate seed round funnel

8:48 Jason's new Associate in Training program

10:09 Grasshopper Bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to https://grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account.

18:28 How have the metrics for early-stage companies changed?

20:20 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist

22:34 TWiST Bounties update

23:43 Competing against frontier labs

30:03 What signals real investor-founder alignment?

30:14 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

36:07 A crash course in Bay Area startup culture

40:15 Automatons-as-a-Service (AaaS)

42:29 Who in Silicon Valley does Jason really not like?

49:59 Museum Etiquette with Lon Harris

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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2026-05-29
Link to episode

The Drone Company Quietly Taking Over Delivery

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Render - render.com/twist

Deel - deel.com/twist

Northwest Registered Agent - northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Today's show:

The "Ryanair of drone delivery" just raised $50 million and plans to bring its technology from Europe to the United States. Manna founder Bobby Healy explains to TWiST how his Dublin-based company completed 300,000 deliveries while some rivals are still publishing blog posts, and why low-cost airline economics will decide who wins the autonomous skies.

Sticking to the drone theme, TWiST welcomed Theseus co-founder Ian Laffey, who called in from Kyiv to tell us about his company's drone guidance system. It runs off a simple camera and Google Maps. The technology could rewrite the modern, GPS-jammed battlefield, and bring more firepower to smaller nations fending off larger foes.

Guest Links:

Manna https://www.manna.aero

Bobby Healy https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhealy/

Manna funding announcement https://www.manna.aero/blog/series-b

Theseus https://www.theseus.us/

Ian Laffey https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilaffey2/

Most recent Theseus funding announcement https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/17/defense-tech-theseus-landed-y-combinator-the-us-special-forces-and-4-3m-from-a-tweet/

The tweet that kickstarted Theseus: https://x.com/ilaffey2/status/1759353732075294766

Timestamps:

0:00 Bobby Healy of Manna joins TWiST

1:41 How a Manna base works: drones migrate around the city like Waymos

7:18 Battle-hardened in Irish weather: 97% uptime in wind and rain

8:52 Margin-positive economics & the path to $0.20 per delivery

9:25 Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

12:32 $50M Series B vs competitors raising $600–800M

19:51 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

22:53 The peer-to-peer drone future and hyper-local commerce

25:46 Growing from 170 to 570 people and moving manufacturing to Oklahoma

28:43 Ian Laffey of Theseus joins TWIST

29:57 Render: Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

30:58 Inside Ukraine's drone industry: front-line iteration and free-market speed

33:55 How GPS gets jammed across the spectrum

35:10 Theseus's approach: cameras + satellite maps + ML

37:04 The product: Raspberry Pi, SD card, camera — pretending to be GPS

49:02 Ukraine: 6–8M drones a year. The US: 300K over two years.

51:17 Are US drone primes actually reconstituting the supply chain?

58:22 Y Combinator as a defense tech accelerator

59:40 "Pick an issue and start working as hard as you can towards it"

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

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2026-05-27
Link to episode

From hypercars to cruise missiles: Lukas Czinger on the future of US defense | E2292

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Every.io https://every.io

Shopify https://shopify.com/twist

Render https://render.com/twist

Today's show:

Startups like Divergent Technologies are producing components and aircraft for the military through new systems that are better, faster, and cheaper than conventional methods. CEO and co-founder Lukas Czinger stops by TWiST to share the company's vertically integrated, AI-driven manufacturing platform and how he transitioned from hypercar parts to working directly with the Pentagon on autonomous aircraft.

Plus, 50 million Americans are on antidepressants, and it's not necessarily the right treatment for all of them. Outro Health co-founders Brandon Goode and Dr. Mark Horowitz share their hyperbolic tapering method, which helps patients get off drugs like Zoloft and Prozac without suffering through traumatic and potentially dangerous side effects.

Guests

Lukas Czinger: https://x.com/lukasczinger

Divergent Technologies: https://www.divergent3d.com

Czinger Vehicles: https://www.czinger.com/

Brandon Goode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/goodebrandon/

Dr. Mark Horowitz: https://x.com/markhoro

Outro Health: https://outro.com

Timestamps:

0:00 Divergent shifted from hypercar development to 3D printing all kinds of components

1:33 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

4:10 How 3D printing has exponentially improved

8:18 Making military components faster, better, and cheaper

9:58 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

11:00 How Divergent caught the Pentagon's attention

19:51 Shopify - Turn those What Ifs into sales with the ecommerce platform powering millions of businesses. Sign up for your $1-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/twist

25:29 Why Outro Health helps patients taper off SSRIs

30:06 Render - Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

36:37 Is depression caused by a "chemical imbalance"?

46:37 Understanding the hyperbolic tapering method

58:32 How Outro makes money

1:10:01 Leaked Meta layoff audio

1:13:41 Cloudflare CEO drops "measurer" roles

1:18:16 CrowdHealth - CrowdHealth lets you ditch the bureaucracy with a peer-to-peer funding platform for your healthcare. Get started for $99 per month for your first three months by using the code TWIST at https://JoinCrowdHealth.com/twist.

1:19:17 Why Trump canceled his AI executive order

1:28:08 Polymarket sharps on Russia vs. Ukraine, SpaceX ticker symbol

1:33:34 Luel vs. Kled update: Is this nepotism at work?

1:37:02 Chris Nolan doesn't have a smartphone

1:43:04 Jason's favorite new espresso machine

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

Delve https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/23/another-customer-of-troubled-startup-delve-suffered-a-big-security-incident/

2026-05-23
Link to episode

Avi Patel on the startup that copied Kled and why he called out General Catalyst by name | E2291

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twist

LinkedIn - https://linkedIn.com/twist

Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist

Why raise $200 million if you are already profitable? That's the question Jason and Alex put to Mercury's founder and CEO, Immad Akhund, after the entrepreneur raised another massive round for his upstart, technology-friendly bank. TWiST then welcomed Kled founder Avi Patel to discuss the startup he considers a clear ripoff of his own company. Jason gavels in verdicts on all parties involved, including Y Combinator and venture capital firm General Catalyst. The show closes with a news lightning round, including OpenAI's decision to offer $2 million in token credits to hundreds of startups.

Guest Links:

Mercury https://mercury.com

Mercury funding announcement https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520511817/en/Mercury-Raises-$200-Million-Series-D-at-$5.2B-Valuation

Immad Akhund on X https://x.com/immad

Kled https://www.kled.ai/

Avi Patel on X https://x.com/avipat_/

Avi's complaint https://x.com/avipat_/status/2055384102409253056

General Catalyst https://www.generalcatalyst.com/

Y Combinator https://www.ycombinator.com/

Discussion links:

Anthropic's attack on secondary trading https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/12/anthropic-warns-investors-against-secondary-platforms-offering-access-to-its-shares/

Vanta https://www.vanta.com/twist

Timestamps:

0:00 Welcome to This Week in Startups!

2:14 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

3:27 Immad Akhund (Mercury) joins to discuss $200M raise

6:33 Mercury's origin story and path to $650M run rate

9:53 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

14:23 Stablecoins: where they work, why Mercury won't launch its own

20:13 LinkedIn - Thanks to our partners at LinkedIn! Post your job for free at https://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant.

22:38 AI agents, and the future of money movement

27:30 Why Mercury raised less this round

30:11 Grasshopper Bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to https://grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account.

42:48 Avi Patel (Kled) joins to discuss copycat startups

57:06 Jason's verdict on YC's hacker culture & "appearance of impropriety"

1:17:39 Sam Altman's $2M-in-tokens-for-equity offer to YC founders

1:24:32 NYC hotel housekeepers cross $100K in time under new union contract

1:30:14 Minimum wage, immigration & the case for raising it slowly

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

2026-05-20
Link to episode

Why does Gen Z hate AI?

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Vanta - Vanta.com/TWIST

Sentry - Sentry.io/TWIST

Deel - Deel.com/TWIST

Today's show:

AI is the villain of the 2026 commencement cycle, with business luminaries — including Eric Schmidt — booed for discussing or praising the technology. As students graduate into a job market forcibly reshaped by AI, increasingly negative public polling on the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on society is clearly not missing the mark.

Jason and Alex then discussed The Information's reporting that Anthropic and OpenAI earn nearly 90% of all startup AI revenue, a Stanford student's viral essay regarding their time at the university in a post-ChatGPT world, Flock Safety's impressive (and worrying) web of cameras, and the upcoming Mark II AI bookmark. The episode closes with questions from our live audience!

TWIST Links:

Bounty website https://www.thisweekinstartups.com/bounty

Sidebar bounty challenge https://www.notion.so/launch1/5K-Bounty-Create-Sidebar-App-for-Podcasts-34150ff313d280adbd8ed6204676513c

Annotated.com bounty challenge https://annotated.lovable.app/

Timestamps:

0:00 TWiST All-Stars summer lineup announcement

2:43 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

5:08 Eric Schmidt booed at University of Arizona commencement

8:57 Why Gen Z feels "double-crossed" by AI leaders

10:10 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

15:22 Is this AI's Vietnam moment? The anti-war parallel

18:04 Theo Baker's NYT essay on Stanford's AI cheating culture

19:24 Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

22:30 Why Jason says everyone should start a company

28:59 Anthropic + OpenAI capture 89% of AI startup revenue

30:17 Vanta: Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

31:57 Are token sales a duopoly? Negative gross margins debate

35:17 Risk of building app-layer startups on top of foundation models

38:22 Inside Tracker bounty update: AI sidebar + Annotated.com

41:18 Mark II: the $159 AI bookmark Alex wants

49:31 Flock Safety solves Austin shooting via Manor PD

53:39 DeFlock map and the geography of surveillance in Texas

1:03:42 Noti Gang: AI for filing patents

1:05:45 Noti Gang: Running AI models locally on Mac Studios

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

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Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

Waabi + Volvo: https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-and-volvo-autonomous-solutions-partner-to-jointly-develop-and-deploy-autonomous-transportation-solutions

2026-05-18
Link to episode

The Self-Driving Startup Nobody Saw Coming | E2289

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

IM8 Health: IM8health.com/TWIST

Squarespace: Squarespace.com/TWIST

Render - Render.com/TWIST

Self-driving just stopped being a science problem and became an engineering challenge instead. That's the through-line of today's double-header with the CEOs of two of the most important AV companies in the world — Wayve's Alex Kendall and Waabi's Raquel Urtasun. Between them: ~$2B raised in the last six months, Uber as a partner, Nissan and Volvo as OEMs, and a shared bet that end-to-end AI plus world models beats Waymo's city-by-city map-and-pray approach.

If you want to understand the state of the self-driving industry beyond recent Waymo announcements, this is the episode for you.

Guest Links:

Wayve: wayve.ai/

Waabi: http://waabi.ai/

Alex Kendall https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgkendall/

Raquel Uratsun: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-urtasun-298400139/

Company Links:

Wayve's GAIA-2 world model: https://wayve.ai/thinking/gaia-2/

Wayve's 500 city roadshow: https://wayve.ai/thinking/ai-500-roadshow-500-cities/

Wavye's most recent funding round: https://wayve.ai/press/series-d/

Waybe + Uber: https://wayve.ai/press/wayve-nissan-uber-robotaxi-collaboration/

Waabi closed-loop simulator: https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-world

Waabi + Uber: https://www.uberfreight.com/en-US/blog/uber-freight-and-waabi-introduce-industry-first-autonomous-truck-deployment-solution

Timestamps:

0:00 Alex Kendall (Wayve) joins the show

1:19 The contrarian bet on end-to-end AI and world models in 2017

3:05 What is a world model? GAIA-2 and GAIA-3 explained

7:34 Sensor agnosticism: camera, radar, LiDAR and minimum bar for safety

9:56 $1.5B raised — have we cracked self-driving?

10:09 Render: Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

20:38 Squarespace: Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST

25:03 How consumers will actually pay: bundle, subscription, or free trial

30:15 IM8 Health: Start feeling like your best self every day. Go to https://IM8health.com/twist and use the code TWiST to get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order.

35:59 Raquel Urtasun (Waabi) joins the show

36:25 World models as controllable simulators for physical AI

43:34 One AI brain across trucks, robotaxis, and beyond

47:35 What changed in AI to make 2026 the deployment year

52:28 Why Waabi raised $1B when they're capital-efficient

58:52 Where Waabi is today: Volvo VNL Autonomous, Dallas-Houston, Uber Freight

1:00:50 Per-mile pricing and the Driver-as-a-Service model

1:07:20 Has Uber tried to buy Waabi? "Not for sale"

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Follow Lon:

Follow Alex:

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups