This Week In Startups is made possible by: Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twist PaperOS - https://paperos.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - https://linkedIn.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist The 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 60-year run for venture capital as a craft business. Maniv's Mike Granoff and Oxcart's Larry Covert push back, arguing it's merely splitting into two asset classes: "Consensus VC" and traditional VC. Either way, the implications for founders, LPs, and the next decade of innovation are enormous. TWiST is back on the beat with a venture round table discussing investment concentration, the IPO drought, "b******t ARR" in the AI era, AI gross margins, the U.S.-China chip war, the Iran conflict's impact on defense tech, the death of NATO and the rise of allied supply chains, why Tel Aviv's stock exchange could become the next NASDAQ, and a lightning round on each VC's favorite portfolio company. Let’s go! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro + sponsor reads (Grasshopper Bank, PaperOS, LinkedIn Jobs) 0:58 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! 2:13 Introductions: Eisenberg (Aleph), Granoff (Maniv), Covert (Oxcart) 3:57 The impact of rising venture capital concentration 6:43 "We may be witnessing the end of venture capital" 9:17 Consensus VC vs. Traditional VC 10:01 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist 11:48 Why mid-size firms beat the behemoths on founder access 19:35 Coining "Consensus Colossal Collaborative Capital" (CCCC) 20:03 AngelList's USVC retail VC fund — does it help mid-size funds? 20:18 PaperOS - Whether you're raising a round, launching a fund, or managing a venture portfolio, PaperOS can unlock simplicity and scale across your empire of capital, contracts, and companies. Claim your $10,000 credit at https://paperos.com/twist 23:27 Are there more breakout startups today than 5 years ago? 28:36 The "b******t ARR" problem and AI gross margins 30:03 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. 32:08 Cursor's negative gross margins and the hyperscaler funding flywheel 33:06 Are we all electron constrained? 35:35 Are we headed for surge pricing on compute? 40:22 Will anything replace NVIDIA? NextSilicon, Hailo & Israel's chip stack 43:33 Distillation, small models, and Apple's edge advantage 46:38 Public trust in AI: should government mandate Waymo & FSD? 1:02:58 Defense tech: Saronic, Anduril & the coming defense M&A wave 1:06:35 The Iran war timeline & supply chain impact 1:18:52 Lightning round: Jiga, Divergent, Volaback, Firehawk, Harbinger Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex 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
