This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

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.

  1. Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278

    5H AGO

    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/twist Today’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 to understand any business inside and out. PLUS we’ve got IONA Drones founder Etienne Louvet, a first look at Moonshot’s Kimi K2.6, and a brand new Off Duty with JCal and Lon. FULL SHOW NOTES ON NOTION: https://thisweekinstartups-docket.notion.site/TWiST-2278-SHOW-NOTES-34872ca918e380bd9c71e684ce2db7c9?source=copy_link Guests : Eragon: https://eragon.ai Josh Sirota on X: https://x.com/joshua_sirota IONA: https://ionadrones.com/ Etienne Louvet on X: https://x.com/etienneldva Relevant Links Eragon Seed Round coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/18/this-startup-wants-to-make-enterprise-software-look-more-like-a-prompt/ Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/ Ollama model: https://ollama.com/ Orange Slice: https://www.orangeslice.ai/ Corgi Insurance: https://www.corgi.insure/ Slash Financial: https://www.slash.com/ The Syndicate: https://thesyndicate.com/ FAA Part 108 Explained: https://pilotinstitute.com/part-108-explained/ Zipline: https://www.zipline.com/ Google Wing: https://wing.com/ Joby Aviation: https://www.jobyaviation.com/ Enterprise Ireland: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/ Éire Composites: https://www.eirecomposites.com/ Kimi K2.6 blog post: https://www.kimi.com/blog/kimi-k2-6 Kimi K2 series on GitHub: https://github.com/moonshotai/Kimi-K2 NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 work station: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/gb300-nvl72/ Timestamps: 0:00 Josh from Eragon AI joins the show 2:01 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! 5:07 Why founders should own and control their data sets 8:33 What is a "company world model?" 9:48 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 11:32 Eragon demo 15:55 Giving agents their own bank accounts 19:07 Inside Eragon's first partnerships 20:14 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist 25:50 How does Eragon make money? 29:11 Pilot - Visit https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year. 39:33 Etienne Louvet of Iona Drones joins the show 42:37 What is FAA's Part 108? 47:13 How innovation in drones impacts the aviation industry 50:26 Working with Enterprise Ireland 58:28 Jason attended the Breakthrough Awards 1:04:10 Doug Liman's AI-powered "Bitcoin" movie 1:09:09 "Love Story" on FX and "Dust Bunny" on HBO Max 1:13:10 Jason's love of tinned fish 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

    1h 17m
  2. 3D-Printed Homes for $99K: ICON’s Jason Ballard on the future of housing | E2277

    3D AGO

    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 thinks so. His company is already building homes for the unhoused and delivering barracks to Fort Bliss at half the cost and a fraction of the time. On TWiST, he tells us space construction is also on the agenda.Explore the potential for robot-powered concrete construction can help build cheap homes for the unhoused, modernize our military infrastructure, AND colonize the solar system in this exclusive interview.Then Seby Rubino of Resi Labs demos his real estate “Oracle,” which can guess the price of any home with 98% accuracy… for just fractions of a penny.PLUS Jason tells a story of the rare founder who got one over on him, and why he’s moving away from vengeance and anger and into love and acceptable.AND we’ve got more JCal and Lon recommendations in a brand-new Off Duty.Guests :Jason Ballard: https://x.com/JasonDBallardICON: https://www.iconbuild.com/ICON on X: https://x.com/ICON3DTechSeby Rubino: https://x.com/SebyverseResi Labs: https://portal.resilabs.ai/Timestamps:0:00 Intro + "balance the ledger" tease1:10 Jason Ballard (ICON) joins — 3D-printed homes + defense (ICON Prime)5:18 Housing basics: commutes, quality of life, "food/water/shelter"7:15 ICON Prime: military construction, survivability, speed, supply chain10:08 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.11:35 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!12:43 Fort Bliss barracks: 10 in 6 months, half the cost; blast/ballistics20:23 Beautiful + dignified housing: Community First Village; "where's the floor?"20:29 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.30:10 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist37:27 Audience Q&A: longevity/cracking; plumbing + electrical41:33 ICON Titan printer + channel partners; hiring pitch45:47 Sebi Rubino (Rezzy Labs) joins — BitTensor subnet 46 real estate pricing51:18 Tau/BitTensor explained: subnet competitions, "narrow intelligence"59:15 Rezzy demo: portal + pricing engine; customers + business model1:07:49 "Got shivved for 500k" story: acquisition, investors get zero1:20:36 Bounties: annotated.com + AI sidebar + headless CMS on BitTensor1:31:10 Off-duty: View Buds (camera earbuds) + use cases1:38:13 Off-duty: Anker charger/cable/battery "trio"1:41:12 Off-duty: The Audacity (AMC) quick review1:46:43 Wrap-up + secret TWiST group chat on XSubscribe 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 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/@calacanis

    1h 47m
  3. This 22-Year-Old Built TikTok for Mobile Games, and It’s Growing Fast | E2276

    5D AGO

    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/twist Today’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: 22-year-old CEO Albert Brotherton and 24-year-old CTO Boris Radilov. They demo the app for us on the air, and Jason immediately spies the potential. Power users are playing 25+ games per session already. We’re digging into the co-founders future plans, including the potential for ads in your game feed, in this TWiST exclusive. PLUS domestic helper bots are here. NEO from 1X Technologies can do the laundry, open the door for guests, and even read and understand Post-It Note messages. Alex talks with CEO Bernt Børnich about building the safety-first 66-lb humanoid, why world models are so crucial for training robots in particular, and why homes are even tougher places for robots to navigate than factory floors. Timestamps:0:59 Nanogram co-creators Albert and Boris join the show 3:42 Nanogram is TikTok for casual AI-generated games 4:27 Building Nanogram with Google Gemini 5:49 Draper and Associates: https://www.draper.vc 6:11 Integrating ads into the game feed 7:36 Roblox: https://www.roblox.com World of Warcraft: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com 8:25 Building in New York 9:07 Jason is obsessed with the Staples Baddie https://www.tiktok.com/@blivxx 10:12 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist 20:36 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io 21:40 1X CEO and founder Bernt Børnich joins the show https://x.com/BerntBornich 22:31 Designing robots to actually live around people 26:30 Teaching NEO about movement in the physical world 29:00 TechCrunch coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/13/neo-humanoid-maker-1x-releases-world-model-to-help-bots-learn-what-they-see/ 29:58 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. 31:04 Moving beyond training data to true general intelligence 33:17 Ensuring NEO pursues the safest possible path 34:19 Why are world models so important? 41:51 1X World Model Challenge on GitHub: https://github.com/1x-technologies/1xgpt 45:14 Robots need to train on a lot of data… Where does it all come from? 50:14 Manufacturing NEO from raw materials in San Carlos 56:32 Robots building robots 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

    1h 3m
  4. Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275

    APR 14

    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/twist Today’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 Bittensor community… and why dedicated builders still believe in this ecosystem. Jason and Lon are joined by Stillcore Capital Partner Mark Jeffrey to break down the Covenant AI and Templar controversy in real time. Then they’re joined by three prominent subnet founders: Ken Miyachi of BitMind (Subnet 34) and Will Squires of Steffen Cruz of MacroCosmos (which owns Subnets 1, 9, and 13). Together, they’re investigating how Bittensor incentives work, how real products are still emerging from the TAO ecosystem, and what governance fixes could arise to prevent the next (alleged) rug pull. Timestamps: 0:00 Mark Jeffrey joins the show! https://x.com/markjeffrey 2:18 How Mark Jeffrey learned about Bittensor. https://bittensor.com/ 6:17 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! 7:22 Mark Jeffrey's Bittensor investments. https://stillcorecapital.com/ 9:25 Check out our discussion with Nova: https://youtu.be/gjRt4eUyiYc?si=HopdmmSarxECark1 10:16 Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST 10:41 Check out Ridges! https://www.ridges.ai/ 11:53 How trading alpha tokens works on Bittensor 12:44 Subnet drama: what happened? https://x.com/covenant_ai/status/2042380152831951300 16:01 Do subnet owners have too much power? 18:33 Check out our conversation with Sam Dare (2268): https://youtu.be/TN2RmNuX4-k?si=c58Byh7Fsw1ttnAY 19:10 How Sam Dare should've handled walking away (per Mark Jeffrey) 20:02 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. 23:29 Who should subnets be owned by? 24:02 Ken Miyachi from BitMind joins the show https://x.com/kenmiyachi 30:56 Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://www.netsuite.com/twist 31:06 Ken's $3M raise & investors (Arch, Canonical, Mechanism) 33:18 Token vs. equity: how to think about a subnet investment. 41:57 Will Squires and Stefan Kruse of MacroCosmos join the show https://x.com/willsquires https://x.com/sczsteffencruz 56:29 Stefan on the Covenant drama: "disappointing, but solvable" 1:02:11 Off-duty with J-Cal, Mark Jeffrey, and Lon Harris 1:02:48 Bieber vs. Carpenter: does Coachella owe you a spectacle? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp5O72WUqTk https://x.com/FashionXGirl_/status/2043251270509592936 1:15:20 Jason says Staples should pay the "Staples baddie" $1M/year https://www.tiktok.com/@blivxx 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: 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

    1h 19m
  5. Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274

    APR 11

    Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274

    This Week In Startups is made possible by: Pilot - https://pilot.com/TWIST Squarespace -https://squarespace.com/TWIST Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/TWIST Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistCrowdHealth - ⁠https://JoinCrowdHealth.com/twist⁠ Today’s show: TAO, the token associated with the Bittensor network, fell sharply last night after a major project declared it was taking its business elsewhere. Covenant AI had used Bittensor subnets 3, 39, and 89 before its abrupt and controversial decision to depart for other digital shores. Gareth Howells, a co-founder of Vidaio (Bittensor Subnet 85), joined Jason and Alex to share the community perspective regarding Covenant’s decision to leave Bittensor, a choice that was especially bitter given that its recently-released Covenant-72B model trained using the network’s decentralized capabilities was hailed at the time as a demonstration of the crypto-AI hybrid’s potential. (Covenant’s Sam Dare was a recent guest on TWiST.) Howells walked us through Vidaio’s product (AI models for high-quality video work, like upscaling) Then it was time to bring new fan-favorite Ole Lehmann on. Ole took an Andrej Karpathy concept, and turned it into a skill that you can use in either OpenClaw or Claude Cowork. Guests Ole Lehmann: https://x.com/itsolelehmann The AI Solopreneur newsletter: https://aisolo.beehiiv.com/ Vidaio: https://vidaio.io/ Vidaio on X: https://x.com/vidaio_ Timestamps: 0:00 Drama in the Bittensor space! Was there a rugpull? 1:01 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! 1:47 Gareth Howells of subnet85 joins the show: https://x.com/GarethHowells 9:56 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 11:37 Gareth reacts to the Covenant situation… Did Sam sell tokens? 14:33 How VidAIo (subnet85) optimizes video as cheaply as possible. https://vidaio.io/ 20:06 Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://squarespace.com/TWIST 21:12 Demo: Gareth shows upscaled footage of our very own Lon Harris 27:09 Who is actually doing the computing on Bittensor? 28:15 How Bittensor recruits tech talent from emerging markets 29:42 Pilot - Visit https://pilot.com/TWIST and get $1,200 off your first year. 30:58 Jason's explains the Bittensor network. https://docs.bittensor.com/ 37:28 Jason addresses "pump and dump" allegations 40:46 Ole Lehmann joins the show https://x.com/itsolelehmann 45:31 Jason's $1,000 "bounty" for enhanced show notes 49:35 Check out Ole's newsletter at aisolo.beehiiv.com ! 59:50 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. 1:00:46 Off Duty with Alex and J-Cal! 1:04:46 Reacting to the Maul trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkVepshZhGc 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 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

    1h 22m
  6. Anthropic’s Mythos is a cyber-weapon, so you can’t have it | E2273

    APR 9

    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 its “Project Glasswing” security council. Together, they’ll test how quickly and easily the model can thwart today’s most elite cybersecurity protocols, and try to develop fresh protocols to keep our most sensitive and critical software systems safe and intact. Once Mythos or a similarly powerful model hits the streets… it’s all over! Plus, we’re checking out the real-time SaaSpocalypse monitor Death By Clawd, and chatting with its creator, Gyani, about how it feels to have your startup one-shotted by Anthropic’s latest model. Guests Rob May: https://x.com/robmay Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/ Neurometric SLM Marketplace: https://marketplace.neurometric.ai/ Death by Clawd: https://deathbyclawd.com/ Nick O’Neill: https://x.com/chooserich This Week In Startups is made possible by: LinkedIn Jobs - LinkedIn.com/twist Grasshopper Bank - Grasshopper.bank/twist Render - Render.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist Today’s show: Timestamps: 0:00 Anthropic's new, powerful 'Mythos' model 3:50 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! 5:26 Neurometric's Rob May joins the show 10:04 Sam Altman's talent exodus 10:50 Render - Go to https://render.com/twist to apply for the Render Startup Program. You'll get anywhere from $500 to $100,000 in free credits. 11:50 Has Anthropic Passed OpenAI? 15:44 When will Claude release Mythos? Polymarket: https://polymarket.com/event/claude-mythos-released-by 18:32 The AI race turns existential 19:16 Would Anthropic's model give the CIA the ability to hack a foreign government? 20:04 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. 21:19 Should AI be nationalized? 29:43 Subsidizing secret AI development. 30:15 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist 31:29 How much of the military's $1.5T will go to AI cybersecurity? 35:17 Nick O'Neill's "not sponsored" call-in. 38:24 What is an SLM? 42:01 Tactical/Practical: How can you tune SLMs 45:43 How Neurometric can afford 100M free tokens per month for its users? 49:04 What is "harness engineering"? 50:58 Tactical/ Practical: Every Reddit rant is a startup idea 1:00:25 Why Meta is the most un-innovative AI company in the world. 1:03:43 Gyani of Deathbclawd joins the show — Is your company COOKED? 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

    1h 17m
  7. 3 AI Agents That Actually Replaced Human Jobs | E2272

    APR 7

    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 Yazin Alirhayim’s Sidecast protocol, inspired by a special request from JCal! Hosts Jason Calacanis: http://x.com/jason Lon Harris: https://x.com/lons Guests Ryan Carson: https://x.com/ryancarson Clawchief: https://github.com/snarktank/clawchief Alex Finn: https://x.com/AlexFinn Creator Buddy: https://www.creatorbuddy.io/ Yazin Alirhayim: https://x.com/yazins OpenOats / Sidecast: https://github.com/yazinsai/OpenOats Further Reading The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande: https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000 Marc Andreessen on AI job loss: https://x.com/pmarca/status/2040919227641856307 OpenAI acquires TBPN: https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-tbpn/ This Week In Startups is made possible by: Gusto - https://Gusto.com/twist Vanta - https://vanta.com/twist Shopify - https://shopify.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist Today’s show: Timestamps: 0:00 Welcome back to TWiST 0:32 Jason's thinks Andor is as good as Empire Strikes Back… 2:30 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! 3:26 Check out the checklist manifesto! https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000 6:36 Our guests Ryan Carson, Alex Finn, and Yazin Alirhayim, and join the show 10:28 Gusto - Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small businesses and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at https://Gusto.com/twist. 10:46 People are automating their coworkers and getting them fired… 18:32 Anthropic Bans OpenClaw 20:06 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist 24:06 How "caveman talk" makes AI works better 27:31 Alex thinks $2000/ month subscription plans are inevitable for AI. 29:31 Why is nobody using the leaked Anthropic Model? 30:30 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 32:37 Open models have been 6 months behind for the past few years 35:53 Why did OpenAI acquire TBPN? 42:01 Tactical/ Practical: The product itself is the most important thing 44:31 Demo or Die! Yazin is back to show off OpenOats 55:05 Ryan's "Claw Chief" https://github.com/snarktank/clawchief/blob/main/skills/executive-assistant/SKILL.md?plain=1 1:02:14 Alex's big announcement, "Henry intelligent machines" 1:12:33 Alex Finn DESTROYS Higgsfield's marketing strategy 1:15:35 Throwback to "Pay Per Post" 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

    1h 19m
  8. AI Rebuilt Every YC W26 Startup. Should Founders Be Scared? | E2271

    APR 3

    AI Rebuilt Every YC W26 Startup. Should Founders Be Scared? | E2271

    This Week In Startups is made possible by: Deel - deel.com/twist Grasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twist Render - render.com/twist Plaud - Plaud.ai/twist An 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 crucial introductions. Find out why he gets to have so much agency, how creator Andrew D’Souza used him to raise his own $17 million round, and how this company ever plans to actually make money. Plus Jason celebrates Apple’s 50th anniversary with a fiery rant about milking the ghost of Steve Jobs… Why OpenAI is acquiring a tech podcast… Jason’s favorite weighted vest for rucking… AND Lon’s Off Duty weekend streaming picks. Guests Marik Hazan:⁠ https://x.com/MarikHazan⁠ Feltsense:⁠ https://feltsense.com/⁠ Andrew D’Souza:⁠ https://x.com/andrewdsouza⁠ Boardy:⁠ https://www.boardy.ai/⁠ Timestamps: 0:00 Jason's direction for TWiST and thoughts on legacy media 5:14 Marik of Feltsense joins the show 6:10 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! 7:10 Marik's viral YC replicator stunt 9:45 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. 20:39 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. 21:33 Feltsense founder goes on trial! 25:26 Jason dunks on Bank of America's app 27:59 TBPN acquired by OpenAI 29:28 The All In Podcast is worth $1B! 30:13 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. 33:02 Andrew D'Souza joins the show along with his agent, Boardy! 43:17 So how does Boardy make money? 48:32 Lon is becoming more and more "AI-pilled." 50:41 Tactical/ practical: "If we have data, let's look at data. If all we have are opinions, let's go with mine." -Jim Barskdale, former CEO of Netscape 1:01:00 Tactical/ practical: hire a PR firm to report on your competitors' wrongdoings. 1:02:58 Jason calls out Apple for being DISGRAZIAD! 1:15:09 Lon's TV pick of the week: "Something Very Bad is Going to Happen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMc_pWm7G7o 1:19:52 Become an Angel Investor at https://thesyndicate.com/ 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

    1h 21m
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Hosts & Guests

4.2
out of 5
1,277 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Jason Calacanis
  • Years Active
    2009 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1.4K
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jason Calacanis
  • Show Website
    This Week in Startups

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