This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis covers startups, tech, markets, media, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. He also interviews the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors, and innovators.
Episodes
Why the most expensive Seed deals are the cheapest | E2299
This Week In Startups is made possible by:NetSuite - Netsuite.com/TWiSTDeel - Deel.com/TWiSTSquarespace - Squarespace.com/TWiSTTwo 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 Cl
The AI Tutor That Makes Kids Actually Think | E2298
The AI Tutor That Makes Kids Actually Think | E2298This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistLinkedIn Jobs https://LinkedIn.com/twistShopify https://shopify.com/twistPlaud https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:*Schools teach kids to memorize formulas. AI helps them skip thinking entirely. Brilliant founder Sue Khim joins TWiST to te
Anthropic wants to slow AI down and Bernie wants 50%: JCal Reacts | E2297
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Grasshopper Bank https://grasshopper.bank/twistVanta https://www.vanta.com/twistRender https://render.com/twistPlaud https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’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
The project SpaceX's first employee raised $500M for
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - NorthwestRegistereAagent.com/TWISTEvery - Every.ioSentry - Sentry.io/TWISTToday’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 orbi
This Startup Fused Human Brain Cells with Silicon Chips | E2295
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Deel https://deel.com/twistQuo https://quo.com/TWiSTLinkedIn Jobs https://LinkedIn.com/twistToday’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 Cho
How to Raise a Seed Round in 2026: Ask Jason | E2294
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Grasshopper Bank https://grasshopper.bank/twistLinkedIn Jobs https://LinkedIn.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’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
The Drone Company Quietly Taking Over Delivery
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Render - render.com/twistDeel - deel.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’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
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.ioShopify https://shopify.com/twistRender https://render.com/twistPlaud https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’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 s
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/twistLinkedIn - https://linkedIn.com/twistNorthwest 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 ano
Why does Gen Z hate AI?
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Vanta - Vanta.com/TWISTSentry - Sentry.io/TWISTDeel - Deel.com/TWISTToday’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
The Self-Driving Startup Nobody Saw Coming | E2289
This Week In Startups is made possible by:IM8 Health: IM8health.com/TWISTSquarespace: Squarespace.com/TWISTRender - Render.com/TWISTSelf-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 U
How Many Startups Will Survive OpenAI? | E2288
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 Vent
How the 1% Will Own Compute (and What It Means for You)
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 computi
Cerebras's IPO goes vertical, and the death of OpenClaw? | E2287
Today’s show:Cerebras just jacked its IPO range to $150–$160 a share, OpenAI bought a consulting firm to seed its $4 billion private-equity joint venture, and a startup in Oakland is electrolyzing magnesium out of seawater for one-third the going price. Alex Wilhelm and Jason Calacanis go deep with AI21 co-CEO Ori Goshen on why model orchestration, not bigger LLMs, will decide who wins enterprise
5,000+ Tech Workers Laid Off This Week. It's Just The Beginning. | E2286
This Week In Startups is made possible by:IM8 Health - https://IM8health.com/TWISTEvery - Every.ioSentry - https://Sentry.io/TWISTBanks don’t want to hand over their data to AI labs. So David Moscatelli built a $250,000 box that runs AI on-prem. He already has 1,600 pre-orders. On today’s episode of TWiST, Jason and Alex sit down with the Go Abacus founder and Yanez's Jose Caldera to unpack ho
The end of Venture Capital? (VC Roundtable) | E2285
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twistPaperOS - https://paperos.com/twistLinkedIn Jobs - https://linkedIn.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistThe top 5 U.S. venture firms captured 73% of all LP commits in Q1, and three veteran VCs say the math may have officially broken. Aleph's Michael Eisenberg argues we may be witnessing the end of a 6
Naval's GP, Ankur Nagpal, Breaks Down The Viral “USVC” Fund | E2284
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Render - render.com/twistVanta - vanta.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - northwestregisteredagent.com/twistHave you wanted to invest in venture capital alongside your 401k contributions, but struggled to find a way to place a bet? Search no more, for the AngelList team has created USVC, a new fund that will accept investments of as little as $500 from
Can an AI Agent Legally Own a Company? Christian van der Henst's Wild Experiment| E2283
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Pilot - https://pilot.com/twistShopify - https://shopify.com/twistGrasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twistToday’s show:An AI agent named Valerie is running a real vending machine in San Francisco — setting prices, ordering inventory, managing a bank account, and posting to Instagram. And it's not just a stunt. We’re getting an early look at th
Mastering AI Video Marketing w/ Magnific CEO Joaquín Cuenca Abela | AI Basics
The TWiST AI Basics series is made possible by Google Cloud!Check out Google Cloud’s new report, “Future of AI: Perspectives on generative media for startups,” Featuring thoughts from today’s guest, Joaquín Cuenca AbelaVisit: goo.gle/futureofgenmedia to check it out!Today’s show:In today’s edition of TWiST AI Basics, J-Cal is joined by Joaquin Cuenca Abela, co-founder and CEO of Magnific (formerly
The $10M+ Bet on a Beanie That Reads Your Brain | Sabi & the Future of BCI | E2282
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Render - https://Render.com/TWISTNorthwest Registered Agent - https://NorthwestRegisteredAgent.com/TWISTLinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/TWISTToday’s show:A beanie that reads your thoughts and turns them into text — no surgery required? Jason grills the Sabi co-founders on their noninvasive brain-computer interface, backed by Vinod Khosla, and calls a
China Kills Meta / Manus Deal (Story Of The Year) | E2281
This Week In Startups is made possible by:IM8 Health - IM8health.com/twistSentry - Sentry.io/twistDeel - Deel.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistWhat’s the technology story of the year? No, it’s not Anthropic’s Mythos model, nor any other AI model. Upcoming IPOs? Wrong again. Jason thinks it’s China’s government’s decision to block Meta's acquisition of Manus. The multi-billion-dollar deal was
Naval’s $500 VC fund, the Maduro Polymarket scandal, and NYT defends theft and murder | E2280
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twistToday’s show:It’s a News and Off-Duty weekend roundup!AngelList’s USVC fund is open to anyone with $500, but it’s getting pushback on social media. Do the critics have a point?A Special Forces soldier made $409K betting on the military’s captur
The Defense Tech Startup YC Kicked Out of a Meeting is Now Arming America | E2280
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Render - https://render.com/twist Agree - https://agree.com Ro - https://Ro.co/Twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:The US military is running low on missiles, but now, Firehawk Aerospace is using 3D-printed solid rocket propellant to cut production costs in half and 5x U.S
SpaceX and Cursor team up to topple Claude Code | E2279
This Week In Startups is made possible by:LinkedIn Jobs - linkedIn.com/twistGrasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twistNotion - notion.comToday’s show:This week, SpaceX announced that it was partnering with AI coding startup Cursor on new AI models. xAI’s parent company is bringing compute, while Cursor brings developer market share and recent successes, training its own coding models.The deal, whil
Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Quo - https://quo.com/TWiST Vanta - https://vanta.com/twist Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:*Eragon CEO Josh Sirota believes that you should “own your intelligence.” He demos a live enterprise AI operating system connecting email, Slack, calendar, and financial data into a single agentic layer that’s pre-trained t
3D-Printed Homes for $99K: ICON’s Jason Ballard on the future of housing | E2277
This Week In Startups is made possible by:IM8 Health - https://IM8health.com/twist Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twist Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:Is 3D printing the key to not just solving the housing crisis but bringing us all into a more beautiful and utopian future? ICON founder Jason Ballard t
This 22-Year-Old Built TikTok for Mobile Games, and It’s Growing Fast | E2276
This Week In Startups is made possible by:LinkedIn Jobs - LinkedIn.com/twist Every.io - every.io Render - render.com/twistToday’s show:*Imagine scrolling through mobile games the way your flip through your TikTok feed. What if you could build your own game in 90 seconds and share it with the world? That’s what over 100,000 users are enjoying right now on Nanogram.On TWiST, we meet the co-founders:
Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Sentry - https://sentry.io/twist Deel - https://deel.com/twist Netsuite - https://netsuite.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:*TAO just had its worst week since launch. One of Bittensor’s most prominent subnet operators allegedly dumped $10 million in tokens and walked away. We’re digging into what we know, how this could change the Bitte
Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Pilot - https://pilot.com/TWISTSquarespace -https://squarespace.com/TWISTNorthwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/TWISTPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistCrowdHealth - https://JoinCrowdHealth.com/twistToday’s show:TAO, the token associated with the Bittensor network, fell sharply last night after a major project declared it was taking
Anthropic’s Mythos is a cyber-weapon, so you can’t have it | E2273
Anthropic just built a model so dangerous, they’re not even going to release it (for now). On TWiST, Jason, Alex, and Neurometric CEO Rob May discuss whether or not this is just another frontier model or a potential weapon of mass internet destruction.Claude Mythos Preview is already in the hands of over 40 Anthropic partners — including Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google — as part of it
3 AI Agents That Actually Replaced Human Jobs | E2272
Anthropic just pulled the plug on Claude subscriptions for OpenClaw and every third party agentic tool. So Jason and Lon welcome back three of our top TWiST OpenClaw experts to break down what it means, how much it’s going to cost now, and whether this is truly the end of the subsidized AI era.And they all brought demos! We’re checking out ClawChief from Ryan Carson, Alex Finn’s agent Henry, and Y
AI Rebuilt Every YC W26 Startup. Should Founders Be Scared? | E2271
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Deel - deel.com/twistGrasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twistRender - render.com/twistPlaud - Plaud.ai/twistAn AI “holding company” rebuilt dozens of YC Winter ‘26 startups in one weekend. Now we’re bringing the founder responsible into Jason’s Courtroom to defend himself.PLUS a live demo of Boardy, the AI that acts like a virtual board member and makes c
How 3 CEOs Use AI to Run $10B in Companies | This Week in AI
This Week in AI, JCal sits down with three CEOs building the infrastructure, intelligence, and interfaces for the next era of AI: Jeremy Fraenkel (CEO, Fundamental), Victor Riparbelli (CEO, Synthesia), and Nick Harris (CEO, Lightmatter). We break down what's actually happening beneath the AI hype: the data modality LLMs completely missed, why copper is the real bottleneck in AI data centers, O
Venture Roundtable: SpaceX IPO, AI's PR Crisis, and the Defense Tech Bubble | E2270
This Week In Startups is made possible by:PaperOS - https://PaperOS.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent- https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistEvery.io - https://Every.ioPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:Silicon Valley just lined up its biggest liquidity event in years: SpaceX filed confidentially for an IPO that could target a $1.75 trillion valuation — potentially the largest public
The 5-Step Framework for AI Agents That Improve While You Sleep | E2269
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Quo - https://quo.com/TWiSTLinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twistIru - https://iru.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:Google project manager Shubham Saboo is running 6 AI agents on a Mac Mini that handle all of his side business autonomously, from research, to social posts, to newsletters.He joins Jason and Lon to walk us through his 5
The $60 billion resource hiding in space, and the start trying to mine it (feat. Matt Gialich, Astroforge) | E2268
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Wispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twistCircle - http://circle.so/twistDeel - http://deel.com/twistToday’s show:AstroForge is building low-cost, replicable spacecraft to mine platinum group metals from near-Earth asteroids — a $60 billion annual market for materials that are running out on Earth. Founder and CEO Matt Gialich joins the show to talk about the
This Bittensor Subnet Could Cut Drug Discovery Costs in HALF | E2267
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Luma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twistEvery.io - https://every.ioLemon.io - https://Lemon.io/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:What do drug discovery, the creator economy, and AI vision models have in common? In the case of Metanova, Bitcast, and Score, the answer is Bittensor. Yes, each of the three companies leverages the Bittensor network to
$2.5B Chip Heist, The Future of American AI, and Purpose-Built Robots | This Week in AI Ep 6
This Week in AI sneak peak! If you enjoy the episode find us on Spotify, Apple podcasts and YouTube by looking up "This Week in AI" or by going to thisweekinai.aiThis week Jason sat down with Jake Loosararian and Chris Lattner on Episode 6 of This Week in AI. Jake is the CEO and co-founder of Gecko Robotics, a company deploying purpose-built robots and AI for mission-critical infrastruct
Compliance Startup Scandal... Is Delve Guilty? | E2266
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistLinkedIn Jobs - https://linkedIn.com/twistSentry - https://sentry.io/twistPlaud - http://Plaud.ai/twistRo.co - http://Ro.co/TwistToday’s show:Hustle Fund general partner Elizabeth Yin joined Jason and Alex to discuss how rapid advances in AI have changed the venture capital game, and ho
The Drone Company Everyone Thought Was Illegal (Now Worth $4B+) | E2265
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistCircle - https://circle.so/twistNetsuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twistToday’s show:Zipline founder Keller Cliffton started his company with a simple premise: build automated logistics that serve everyone equally. The only problem? It was literally illegal in the US.In this live r
How Robinhood became a $68B company w/ Vlad Tenev
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Deel - https://deel.com/twistLinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twist.Iru - https://iru.com/twistToday’s show:We’ve got a treat for you today on TWiST! Jason is live from LAUNCH Fest in San Francisco, where he’s joined by Robinhood founder Vlad Tenev.The era of AI is here. Robinhood found success in the midst of the last great technological shift. What l
Are Brain-Computer Interfaces Actually Ready for Humans?
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Caldera + Lab - https://CalderaLab.com/TWISTNorthwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistLemon - https://Lemon.io/twistToday’s show:Computers that read your mind? Jets that are all wings? Continuously tracking your body’s vital signs to live longer? We’ve got all that and more on the show today.First, we sat down with the CEO of P
One Genius Rule That Made This Coffee Brand Famous | EP 2262
Legendary British ad man Rory Sutherland invented a fake business on a podcast, a coffee shop appealing to the busy commuter called “Flat White or F**k Off.”But it’s one thing to have a post go big on TikTok or Instagram… but to turn that viral moment into an actual COMPANY is a very different challenge.On TWiST, Jason and Lon chat with Charlie Hurst, Tom Noble, and Will Sudlow, founders of the on
The Global Expansion of Self-Driving Vehicles
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Circle - http://circle.so/twistSentry - http://Sentry.ioDeel - http://deel.com/twistPlaud - http://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:It’s self-driving time! We’re going deep on one of the most exciting spaces developing in the world, autonomous vehicles! We’ve got 3 experts on the show to talk to us enlighten us, Ben Seidl of Autolane, Ming Maa of Moove, and Nath
How agents will change banking forever | E2260
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - northwestregisteredagent.com/twistQuo - quo.com/TWiSTGusto - Gusto.com/twistPlaud - http://Plaud.ai/twistAthena - https://www.athena.com/jcalToday’s show:How long until AI models can improve AI models? Once possible, recursive self-improvement by AI technology could accelerate — forever. Thus far, humans (and their
Wisdom of the $TAO: the future is decentralized AI
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Every Banking - https://Every.iohttps://Lemon.io - Lemon.io/twistWispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twistPlaud - https://plaud.ai/twistRo.co - https://Ro.co/TwistToday’s show:*Sure, we all love open source models, but what about completely decentralized AI? Rather than leaving the big decision-making in the hands of a few elite CEOs, shouldn’t users have a
Is Anthropic Making the Biggest Mistake in AI History | E2258
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Plaud - Plaud.ai/twistLinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twist.Deel - https://deel.com/twistIru - https://iru.com/twist!Today’s show:It’s a packed TWiST Today! WITH US, we’ve got Erik Voorhees of VeniceAI and Logan Allin of Fin Capital on to talk agents, crypto, and… you guessed it, OPENCLAW!Where does agentic AI meet the financial system? How will agent
How the OpenClaw foundation bullet-proofed its future (w/Dave Morin) | E2257
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Circle — http://circle.so/twistHubspot Creators — http://clickhubspot.com/twist2Uber AI Solutions — http://uber.com/ai-solutionsToday’s show: *Dave Morin joined the show today to explain how the OpenClaw Foundation came into existence, and what its goals are. Fear not, Peter Steinberger retains directional control of the project. But if you want to sustain
The Biggest Private Funding Round in History | E2256
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Deel - http://deel.com/twistWispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twistLuma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twistToday’s show:*$110 billion buys you 15% of OpenAI. Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank placed their bets on ChatGPT, which now has 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers. Find out why Jason is anticipating the wildest J-Curve swing of a
Behind the Scenes with an early OpenClaw contributor! | E2252
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Lemon IO - https://Lemon.io/twistEvery.io - https://every.io Sentry.io- https://sentry.io/twistToday’s show:We’re going behind the curtain today — it’s a packed show!We found Tyler Yust, OpenClaw’s third EVER contributor to share his insights from within foundation! We’ve got Deedy Das, of Menlo Ventures, on the show to discuss whether SaaS is cooked! Next
Kill Your Startup’s Knowledge Chaos with OpenClaw (with Oliver Henry and Jeff Weisbein) | E2254
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Caldera Lab - [calderalab.com/twist](https://calderalab.com/twist)Iru - [iru.com](http://Iru.com/twist)LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedin.com/twist*OpenClaw is incredible at automating tasks. But what if it could also fix your startup’s internal communication problems? Give agents shared memory, and you may be able to break down information silos while ensuri
We Asked 3 Experts How to Get More Value out of OpenClaw | E2253
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Gusto - https://Gusto.com/twistCircle - https://circle.so/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’s show:*Getting OpenClaw set up and running without destroying your bank account is one thing.But now that you have your agent or swarm operational, how can you use them to get real work done?We have three builders who
When Will Openclaw go Mainstream? | E2252
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Gusto - Try Gusto today and get 3 months free at gust.com/twistCrusoe Cloud - Reserve your capacity for the latest GPU’s at crusoe.ai/savingsUber AI Solutions - Book a demo today at http://uber.com/ai-solutionsToday’s show: It’s a packed show! We’ve got YouTuber and Openclaw enthusiast Matthew Berman, Ryan Yaneli, founder of Nextvisit, and Jason Grad, foun
Will OpenAI Tank OpenClaw? | E2251
Will OpenAI Tank OpenClaw? | E2251This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistLemon IO - https://lemon.io/twistLinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedin.com/HiringProOfferToday’s show:*OpenAI hired OpenClaw creater Peter Steinberger. What does this mean for the future of the AI virtual assistant platform, and what can the OpenClaw comm
OpenClaw is Our Friend Now | E2250
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Sentry - http://sentry.io/twistCircle - http://Circle.so/twistWispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twistToday’s show: What makes OpenClaw feel so much more ALIVE than other AI agents?On TWiST, we’re welcoming three amazing builders who are truly connecting with their OpenClaw bots, not just using them for productivity but getting to know them and their person
Why J-Cal Invested to 200K in a former Employee | E2249
This Week In Startups is made possible by:NetSuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twistLuma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twistSquarespace - https://squarespace.com/twistToday’s show: On today’s epsiode of TWiST, Jason gets pitched by two top founders, Presh Dineshkumar and Peter Cetale! Presh used to work for Jason at Launch! When he left, Jason invested $200K into Presh’s new startup The Wellness Company
How These 3 Founders are building on Open Claw | E2248
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Hubspot - http://clickhubspot.com/twist2Deel - http://deel.com/twistIru - http://www.iru.com/Today’s show: Today on TWiST we’re joined by 3 founders building on Open Claw, Presh Dineshkumar, Vishnu, and Sean Liu!First, long time friend of the pod, Presh Dineshkumar, shows us how he’s using Open Claw to automate his work at The Wellness Company. His Open C
Does Clawdbot (OpenClaw) Need Eyes? (feat. Alex Finn and Matt Van Horn) | E2247
This Week In Startups is made possible by:LinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/twistEvery.io - http://every.io/Northwest registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’s show: Sean Liu gave his OpenClaw “eyes” by hooking the AI assistant up to his Meta Ray Bans. While Jason and Alex consider the implications… guest expert Alex Finn quickly loses interest…It’s another All-Clawdbot TWiST w
We built OpenClaw Ultron to replace 20 people at our company | E2246
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/savingsLemon IO - https://Lemon.io/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistThanks to our guests:Alex Cheema of ExoLabs http://exolabs.netRyan Yanneli of NextVisit https://nextvisit.ai/Today’s show: It’s the Age of Ultron at TWiST and LAUNCH. We’ve given our OpenClaw digital Replicants
Savvy is HQ Trivia + Wordle (feat. Scott Rogowsky) | E2245
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Circle - http://Circle.so/twistCaldera Lab - http://calderalab.com/TWISTLinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/twistToday’s show: There was a time, not long ago, when offices everywhere came to a standstill, and everyone became even more fixated on their phones than usual, each time HQ Trivia went live. The app-based game show was a massive viral hit… until sudden
Where early-stage founders MUST focus to success | E2244
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Quadratic - http://quadratic.ai/twistToday’s show: Don’t get distracted! Here are the MOST CRUCIAL aspects of running a startup, where founders need to keep their full and uninterrupted focus.- Make sure you’re saving up your cash- Why you need to just get started and build SOMETHING- Trust and reliability is EVERYTHING for new products- Why distribution s
SpaceX + xAI deal gets us one step closer to Musk Industries | E2243
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Uber - http://uber.com/twistDeel - http://deel.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’s show: SpaceX is buying xAI, forming a mega-corp that plans to launch data centers into SPACE. Will Tesla also join up, fulfilling Elon’s destiny to become real-life Tony Stark, with his own Musk Industries? Jason and Al
How OpenClaw (Clawdbot) Is Rewriting the Way Our Team Works with Rahul Sood | E2242
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Deel - http://deel.com/twistLinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedin.com/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’s show: On Today’s action packed episode of This Week in Startups, our team is going full AI!Jason is joined by Oliver Korzen and Lukas Durand from the LAUNCH team, alongside Rahul Sood, founder/CEO of Irreve
How decriminalization led to an explosion in cannabis startups (Feat. Ford Smith, Andrew Duffy, and Socrates Rosenfeld) | E2241
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Gusto - http://Gusto.com/twistZite - http://zite.com/twistCircle.so - http://circle.so/twistGuest links: Andrew Duffy, Founder and CEO, http://sparkplug.app — Retail incentives and brand partnerships platformFord Smith, Founder of http://Ultranative.com — Investing in transformative startupsSocrates Rosenfeld, Founder and CEO of http://iheartjane.com — One
Clawdbot is an inflection point in AI history | E2240
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Quo - http://quo.com/TWiSTLemon IO - https://lemon.io/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’s show: Jason is back from Davos and Tokyo! We are jumping right back in with a group of Clawdbot power users: Alex Finn, Matt Von Horn, and Dan Penguine.Clawdbot is a hot open source AI project that lets users automat
Why You’ll Choose an AI Doctor (feat. Fred Almeida and Max Weiss) | E2239
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Sentry.io - sentry.io/twistHubspot - clickhubspot.com/twist2Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twistToday’s show:One day soon, you might consult an AI general practitioner about your health, and then the computer will recommend human specialists to take up your case.On TWiST Tokyo, Jason chats with Fred Almeida — founder and
From Blood Transfusions to Burritos, How Zipline is Automating Delivery | E2238
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistCrusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/savingsLinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twistToday’s show: On today’s TWIST episode, Alex interviews two of the top startup co-founders: Keller Cliffton of Zipline and Anastasis Germanidis of Runway. Zipline announced its $600 million raise at a $7.6 BILL
How startups suddenly became “cool” in Japan (feat. Shin Takamiya of Globis Capital) | E2237
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Circle.so - http://Circle.so/twistDeel - http://deel.com/twistUber AI Solutions - http://uber.com/twistToday’s show:Not long ago, promising young Japanese graduates wanted to go work for the largest, most established, and even oldest corporations: Sony, Mitsubishi, and the like. But now, just over the last few years, more and more Japanese people are becom
Avoiding buzzwords and marketing-speak (feat. Thomas McInerney) | E2236
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Lemon.io - https://lemon.io/twistDeel - http://deel.com/twistLinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twistToday’s show: Some pitches sound just like ads… and it’s a huge red flag for investors.On our latest edition of TWiST Tokyo, Jason welcomes legendary angel investor (and long-time friend of the pod) Thomas McInerney. His list of investments reads like a Wh
Japan’s Startup Revolution (feat. Kathy Matsui) | E2235
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Every.io - http://every.io/LinkedIn Jobs - https://www.linkedin.com/twistZite - http://zite.com/twistToday’s show: Why do 40% of Japanese students want to build a company rather than join the corporate workforce?On TWiST, Jason considers this question along with special guest Kathy Matsui, general partner of the global VC fund MPower Partners.Their wide-ra
How to Make Billions from Exposing Fraud | E2234
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Netsuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twistLumaAi - https://lumalabs.ai/twistSquarespace - https://squarespace.com/twistToday’s show: Government fraud and waste has become a prominent issue in the last month.That’s what we are looking at.On Today’s episode of TWiST, Jason interviews Alex Shieh of the The Antifraud Company.Under the False Claims Act, enterpri
Secrets of Startup Recruiting in the US AND Japan! (feat. Sho Takei) | E2233
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistCaldera Lab - http://calderalab.com/TWISTPipedrive - http://pipedrive.com/twistToday’s show: TWiST is coming to you all from TOKYO as we launch Japan’s first-ever Founder University! That’s right, a full week of key insights from Japan’s top founders, investors, and tech visionaries… when w
Jason’s Top CES Products and Takeaways | E2232
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Hubspot - http://clickhubspot.com/twist1Circle.so - http://circle.so/twistSentry - http://sentry.io/twistToday’s show: On the last TWiST episode before Jason goes to Japan and Alex begins on paternity leave, the hosts break down the blockbuster tech news that is kicking off 2026.Discord AND Strava both eyeing billion dollar IPOs, two massive social media a
AI makes you more creative, AI Roundtable with Steven Johnson and Grant Lee | E2231
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Gusto - https://www.gusto.com/twistLemon IO - https://lemon.io/twistQuo - http://quo.com/TWiSTToday’s show: We keep hearing about how AI is killing our ability to think, filling our media with slop, and ruining our kids’ ability to learn. It seems the internet is filled with negative sentiment about the future AI is bringing.Jason is joined by Grant Lee,
2026 Starts with a bang: META AI Drama and Nvidia’s $20B Groq Acquisition | E2230
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/buildUber - http://uber.com/twistEvery.io - http://every.io/Today’s show: Jason and Alex are BACK on TWiST for 2026! This holiday season was anything but calm, with deca-corn acquisitions, massive Polymarket bets, and major new startups breaking from stealth!Jason talks the recent Nvidia-Groq $20B acquisition, a major exit
THE 2025 TWISTY AWARDS! Biggest Trends, Best Guests, Top Name Drops, and more | E2229
This Week In Startups is made possible by:LinkedIn Ads - http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartupsSquarespace -https://squarespace.com/twistHubspot - http://clickhubspot.com/twist1Today’s show: We’re saying goodbye to 2025 with our annual TWISTY Awards, looking back on our favorite pod moments from throughout the year.Featured clips include Jason’s message to the members of Reddit’s r/AntiWork commun
Jason’s ultimate dream mega-purchase + Founder Q’s | E2228
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent- https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistVanta - http://www.vanta.com/twistLemon IO - https://lemon.io/twistToday’s show: Jason’s already a millionaire many times over… but what are the huge, blockbuster, dream purchases that he’s still holding off on? BESIDES the private jet we all know he wants? The Noti Gang has asked, a
Waymo Madness in SF! Why robotaxis clogged the streets | E2227
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Caldera + Lab - http://calderalab.com/TWISTCrusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/buildUber - http://uber.com/twistToday’s show: Why did a power outage in the Bay Area cause Waymos to pile up on city streets?Jason was actually in San Francisco to take in the spectacle of Waymos blocking traffic. But why did this happen? And can we look forward to a day when auto
Level up your copywriting w/ Sam Parr | E2226
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Luma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twistNorthwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twistToday’s show: DID YOU KNOW… most of the tried and true techniques devised by marketing gurus in the ‘40s and ‘50s still apply today?On TWiST, we’re joined by online marketing expert Sam Parr, host of “My First Mill
INSIDE How AI Startups hire, AI Roundtable with Wade Foster, Mikey Schulman, and Ali Ansari | E2225
This Week In Startups is made possible by:LinkedIn Ads- http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartupsSquarespace - https://squarespace.com/twistEnterpret - http://Enterpret.com/twistToday’s show: How do top tech CEOs hire? AI has thrown out the playbook for getting hired — so what are the most innovative firms looking for? Anyone can learn any skill and automate much of it, what is to be valued in the mo
