Avsnitt
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Plaud
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https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’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
Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com
Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
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Follow Lon:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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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
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:
X: https://x.com/lons
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Deel - deel.com/twist
Northwest Registered Agent - northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
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
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:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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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
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Deel - deel.com/twist
LinkedIn - linkedIn.com/twist
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
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:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Every.io - visit every.io
Sentry.io - sentry.io/twist
Vanta - vanta.com/twist
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
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:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Plaud https://Plaud.ai/twist
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
Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
Follow Lon:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
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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:
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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
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The AI Tutor That Makes Kids Actually Think | E2298
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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:
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Follow Jason:
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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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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
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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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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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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
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X: https://twitter.com/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
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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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
Further Reading:
2022 Pong paper in Neuron: https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)00806-6
2017 Paper: “Attention is All You Need”; https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762
The “Barista Test” for Artificial Intelligence: Chris Rourk: https://medium.com/predict/the-turing-test-is-so-last-century-the-barista-test-for-artificial-general-intelligence-faf91034fa8c
Notable Links:
Playing “DOOM” on CL1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRV8fSw6HaE
DayOne Data Center: https://dayonedc.com/
NeurIPS 2026 Conference: https://neurips.cc/
Neuralink: https://neuralink.com/
CliniCloud Digital Stethoscope and Thermometer: https://www.design-industry.com.au/clinicloud
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFWERX): https://afwerx.com/
Joby Aviation: https://www.jobyaviation.com/
Prime Movers Lab: https://www.primemoverslab.com/
Timestamps:
0:00 What is "biological computing"?
2:49 Cortical's new $30 million raise
4:15 The world's first biological data center
9:48 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.
10:51 Biological computers have a learning advantage
19:43 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
29:15 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist
38:46 From paper airplanes to Group 4 UAVs
52:20 Introducing the DropShip defense drone
58:28 How regulations block US drones
1:00:40 Why Pyka builds everything in-house
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Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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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
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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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Render - render.com/twist
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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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Follow Alex:
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X: https://twitter.com/Jason
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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
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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
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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
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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/
Delve https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/23/another-customer-of-troubled-startup-delve-suffered-a-big-security-incident/
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:
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Follow Jason:
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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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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
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Follow Alex:
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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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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 + Volvo: https://waabi.ai/insights/waabi-and-volvo-autonomous-solutions-partner-to-jointly-develop-and-deploy-autonomous-transportation-solutions
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"
Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com
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Follow Lon:
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Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/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:
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:Pilot - https://Pilot.com/TWISTGrasshopper Bank - https://Grasshopper.bank/TWISTQuo - https://Quo.com/TWiSTPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistAnthropic just declared every unauthorized secondary sale of its stock "void" — naming Hiive, Forge, Sydecar, Upmarket, and others in a public hit list. Jason and Alex sit down with Jenny Fielding (Everywhere Ventures), Dave McClure (Practical VC), and Sam Lessin (Slow Ventures) to unpack what the AI lab’s move to limit secondary trades means for SPV operators, brokers, and the founders trying to keep control of their cap tables. Plus: a real story of a founder who returned a $15M Series A six months after closing because Claude was going to eat his startup, SaaS moats, and just what does it mean to be rich?Timestamps:0:00 Guest introductions0:48 Anthropic voids unauthorized SPV trades8:41 Accredited investor reform & the SEC sophisticated investor test8:58 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/TWiST11:43 Naval's USVC closed-end fund as a workaround16:41 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!17:48 Pro-rata rights battles: when Series A investors push seed investors out19:36 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.29:13 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.30:23 Storing wealth in stories vs. cash flows34:19 Cerebras and Fervo Energy IPOs — meaningful liquidity?37:54 Will SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI IPOs redistribute capital or compound it?45:58 The $15M Series A founder who returned the money because of Claude50:01 Should founders pivot or return capital when the world changes?56:43 OpenAI's $6.6B tender and Shruti Gandhi's viral SF cost-of-living tweet1:00:25 Intercom rebrands to Fin: the AI-first late-stage pivotSubscribe 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
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The future of AI isn't a smarter chatbot. It's a model that watches your screen, listens to the room, and acts on what it sees. We dug into Thinking Machines' new interaction model, what it means for compute, and the layoff wave that's already here.This week's roundtable: Anastasios Angelopoulos (CEO of Arena, formerly LMArena), Nick Harris (CEO of Lightmatter, photonic computing chips), and Philip Johnston (CEO of StarCloud, building megawatt data centers in space).
Thank you to our exclusive sponsor:
PayPal Open, One Platform for All Business: http://paypalopen.com/
Timestamps:
0:00 Cold open
1:21 Welcome to Episode 13
2:51 Is China closing the AI gap? Arena's data
5:16 Lightmatter and the photonic interconnect bottleneck
9:42 StarCloud 2, Nvidia Space Ruben 1, and orbital data centers
17:24 Thinking Machines' interaction model: what's actually new
28:22 Whisper Flow and the 3-pedal desk setup
33:48 Real-time desktop and camera awareness as the real unlock
40:25 Why this 100x's compute demand
42:43 The polarization of compute and $10M personal data centers
49:25 The layoff wave: Cloudflare, PayPal, Coinbase, Upwork
54:48 The 10x gap between AI-first and non-AI-first employees
59:52 Unlimited agency and the abundance future
1:00:46 Anthropic's Project Luna runs a retail store
1:03:45 Decoupling labor from value creation
1:05:03 P(doom) round
🔗 Guests:
Anastasios Angelopoulos, Arena: https://arena.ai | @ML_Angelopolous
Nick Harris, Lightmatter: https://lightmatter.co
Philip Johnston, StarCloud: https://starcloud.com | @philipjohnston
🔗 Referenced in this episode:
Thinking Machines, Introducing Interaction Models: https://thinkingmachines.ai/blog/interaction-models/
LMArena leaderboard: https://lmarena.ai
Lightmatter: https://lightmatter.co
Starcloud: https://www.starcloud.com
TechCrunch, Cloudflare says AI made 1,100 jobs obsolete: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/08/cloudflare-says-ai-made-1100-jobs-obsolete-even-as-revenue-hit-a-record-high/
Fast Company, Tech layoffs this week due to AI (Cloudflare, PayPal, Coinbase, Upwork): https://www.fastcompany.com/91538995/tech-layoffs-due-to-ai-this-week-cloudflare-paypal-coinbase-upwork
Bloomberg, South Korea floats citizen dividend from AI profits: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-05-12/korea-s-massive-ai-boom-triggers-call-for-tech-tax-roiling-market
PYMNTS, Inside a retail store run entirely by AI (Andon Labs / Luna): https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2026/inside-a-retail-store-run-entirely-by-ai/
Wispr Flow (voice-to-text tool Jason uses): https://wisprflow.ai
Fermi Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
🔗 Subscribe and follow:
Newsletter and all platforms: https://thisweekinai.ai
#ThisWeekInAI #AI #ThinkingMachines #Lightmatter #StarCloud #Arena #Anthropic #ProjectLuna #AIcompute #AIlayoffs #Superintelligence
- Visa fler
