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This Week in Startups

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis 1428 Episodes Aug 21, 2026

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

Open source is going to win it all: Harvey proves it | E2328
Open source is going to win it all: Harvey proves it | E2328 Aug 21, 2026 01:09:14 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Superhuman https://Superhuman.com Sentry https://sentry.io/twist Lightfield https://lightfield.app Today's show: Jason's been saying it for years now (and we've got an All In clip from 2023 to prove it). Open source will win the AI race. This week gives us a major evidence point, as $11B legal AI company Harvey released its own in-house model, trained o
Taste is the new programming language (w/ Astrocade CEO Amir Sadeghian) | AI Basics
Taste is the new programming language (w/ Astrocade CEO Amir Sadeghian) | AI Basics Aug 20, 2026 21:05 The TWiST AI Basics series is made possible by Google Cloud! Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here: https://goo.gle/technical_guide Astrocade is building super-intelligence for the interactive world. Build the future of fun: https://www.astrocade.com/careers Today'
Neurosymbolic AI outperforms chatbots and product search | E2327
Neurosymbolic AI outperforms chatbots and product search | E2327 Aug 19, 2026 54:19 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Vanta https://www.vanta.com/twist Agree https://agree.com YSecurity https://YSecurity.io/TWIST   Today's show: Frontier AI models can ace PhD-level exams, but it's still bad at tracking down the product you want in the style that suits you. Onton's Zach Hudson tell us that the problem is that models are a black box. His solution? A neurosymbolic model, On
Bittensor creator Const on Affine, dTAO, "mining reasoning," and more | E2326
Bittensor creator Const on Affine, dTAO, "mining reasoning," and more | E2326 Aug 17, 2026 01:24:54 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist DigitalOcean https://do.co/twist Odoo https://Odoo.com/twist Today's show: We've been going deep on Bittensor and how it works all year on TWiST, meeting with the creators of some of our favorite subnets, and exploring how the system decentralizes inference, compute, and storage. Now,
What we'll learn from Anthropic's $2-$3T IPO | E2325
What we'll learn from Anthropic's $2-$3T IPO | E2325 Aug 15, 2026 01:20:16 This Week In Startups is made possible by: PayPal Open https://paypal.launch.co CLA https://claconnect.com/withyou Odoo https://Odoo.com/twist Today's show: *Anthropic is likely headed for the largest IPO in history. A reported 2-3 trillion October debut would blow past SpaceX's recent record. Jason breaks down why the. numbers matter less than what they'll reveal about the entire AI economy. Th
These robots could cut delivery costs by 80% | Next Unicorns
These robots could cut delivery costs by 80% | Next Unicorns Aug 12, 2026 01:03:44 These robots could cut delivery costs by 80% | Next Unicorns This Week In Startups is made possible by: Squarespace https://squarespace.com/twist Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Agree https://agree.com     Today's show: *Cytronic built a robotics-first fulfillment network, packing and shipping orders for cents instead of dollars, from small, city-adjacent mi
Zuck's AI manifesto is a data center PR masterclass | E2323
Zuck's AI manifesto is a data center PR masterclass | E2323 Aug 11, 2026 01:20:18 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Every.io https://every.io NetSuite https://NetSuite.ai/TWIST YSecurity https://YSecurity.io/TWIST Today's show: *Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500 word essay about the future of AI, and Jason thinks it's his smartest PR move in years. The thinkpiece, "The Future is for Everyone: The Path to a Positive AI Future," arrives alongside a new open-
How AI splits startups into winners and losers | E2322
How AI splits startups into winners and losers | E2322 Aug 7, 2026 01:18:16 This Week In Startups is made possible by: DigitalOcean https://do.co/twist Sentry https://sentry.io/twist Lightfield https://lightfield.app Today's show: A hedge fund just blew up shorting SaaS stocks. In turns out, the software companies that went all in on AI are bouncing back. Figma's CEO — still riding high on strong revenue — forfeited roughly $46 million in stock awards to ease investor n
Airtable's 80% off value crash: VCs explain why it's still a win | E2321
Airtable's 80% off value crash: VCs explain why it's still a win | E2321 Aug 5, 2026 01:12:33 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Vanta https://www.vanta.com/twist Agree https://agree.com Odoo https://Odoo.com/twist Today's show: *Airtable just sold for $2.25 billion, an 81% drop from its peak of $11.7 billion. On this week's TWiST VC Roundtable, Aditya Agarwal (South Park Commons), Niko Bonatsos (Verdict Capital), and Rick Heitzmann (FirstMark Capital) break down why the venture
How Bespoke faked AI until it actually worked (w/ Akemi Tsunagawa) | E2320
How Bespoke faked AI until it actually worked (w/ Akemi Tsunagawa) | E2320 Aug 3, 2026 01:02:16 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Odoo https://Odoo.com/twist Quo https://quo.com/TWiST Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Today's show: *Before Bespoke's "travel concierge" chatbot could actually hold a conversation, founder/CEO Akemi Tsunagawa and her team quietly answered customers themselves. That "fake it till you make it" strategy paid off. Bespo
Why AI has no taste and how to fix it (w/ Thais Castello Branco) | E2319
Why AI has no taste and how to fix it (w/ Thais Castello Branco) | E2319 Jul 31, 2026 01:15:09 This Week In Startups is made possible by: YSecurity https://YSecurity.io/TWIST MongoDB https://MongoDB.com/ai Odoo https://Odoo.com/twist Today's show: AI models can solve PhD-level math equations and code an app in minutes… So why does everything they design look like identical slop? Thais Castello Branco, founder of Taste Labs, raised $18.5M in seed funding to teach frontier models about aest
Banning Chinese robots isn't regulatory capture | E2318
Banning Chinese robots isn't regulatory capture | E2318 Jul 29, 2026 01:25:49 This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent- NorthwestRegisteredAgent.com/twist Odoo - Odoo.com/twist MongoDB - MongoDB.com/ai   Today's show: The FCC's decision to ban Chinese humanoid robots over security concerns is a boon to American startups, which now face a narrower competitive market. But where should we draw the line on security over competition? Menlo Ventures'

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