This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis
  • 4.2 (1.3K)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED DAILY

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. To the left of this of thumbnail i want to add a chinese flag to the left destroying the meta logo. because the title is China Kills Meta / Manus Deal (Story Of The Year) | E2281

    8H AGO

    To the left of this of thumbnail i want to add a chinese flag to the left destroying the meta logo. because the title is China Kills Meta / Manus Deal (Story Of The Year) | E2281

    This Week In Startups is made possible by: IM8 Health - IM8health.com/twist Sentry - Sentry.io/twist Deel - Deel.com/twistPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist What’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 heralded as evidence that AI companies founded in China could sidestep onerous government meddling by moving their operations to Singapore. That loophole now appears closed. Jason and Lon then dug into the newly-reforged OpenAI-Microsoft partnership. The two companies have had a mutually beneficial, if fractious, operating relationship to date; that they had to rework their agreement is not a shock. Then, your hosts watched and digested a video from China purportedly showing a self-driving car hitting a child at speed. What would happen in the United States if such a tragedy struck? And is that fait accompli? Closing the show, Jason and Lon reacted to the latest Russell Brand implosion, discussed Lon’s new favorite show ‘Criminal Record,’ and shared recommended foot pedals (for AI dictation) and headphones for the road warriors tuning in. Key Links: OpenAI and Microsoft OpenAI’s announcement of its new Microsoft deal Microsoft’s announcement of its new OpenAI deal OpenAI announces its deal with AWS News that Microsoft was considering legal action against OpenAI Microsoft-OpenAI negotiations late 2025 edition, and terms announced in early 2026 Amazon announces that OpenAI models are coming to AWS Timestamps: 0:00 Show starts 1:24 OpenAI and Microsoft have a new deal 3:22 Why would Microsoft cede exclusive access to OpenAI models? 5:36 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! 8:09 Why Jason thinks Microsoft and Apple should work together on AI 9:45 China will block the Meta-Manus deal 12:12 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. 12:23 Golden Shares and what they provide 14:57 How do you unravel a multi-billion-dollar deal? 22:08 Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST 24:42 The Huawei ADC crash 29:49 What happens when something similar happens in the United States? 31:55 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. 36:15 Russell Brand's public humiliation 41:22 Don't trust palm reading! 43:59 Lon's Off Duty streaming pick: Criminal Record 46:25 Jason's Pick: Which foot pedal for AI dictation is right for you? 48:43 Jason's Pick: In the market for new headphones? 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

    53 min

  2. 2D AGO

    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/twist Today’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 capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Is the world just a big casino now? And a NYT podcast defends shoplifting and explores “social murder.” Find out why Jason says they crossed the line. Plus: Why you should teach your kids about investment and more, Off-Duty streaming and book recommendations. Related Links USVC: https://usvc.com/ AngelList: https://www.angellist.com/ Naval Ravikant on X: https://x.com/naval “Don’t Listen to the Peanut Gallery; USVC is a Watershed Moment” by Hari Raghavan: https://x.com/haridigresses/status/2047503944839016681 @Covered_Call USVC tweet: https://x.com/covered_call/status/2047020060900733306 Forge Global: https://forgeglobal.com/ Calm: https://www.calm.com/ Full DOJ indictment of Gannon Ken Van Dyke: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-soldier-charged-using-classified-information-profit-prediction-market-bets NYT “The Opinions” podcast: “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?” https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000010849055/the-rich-dont-play-by-the-rules-so-why-should-i.html Hasn Piker on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hasanabi New Yorker: Jia Tolentino: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/jia-tolentino NYT: Nadja Spiegelman: https://www.nytimes.com/by/nadja-spiegelman Jia Tolentino on X: https://x.com/jiatolentino Garry Kasparov on X: https://x.com/kasparov63 Prof G Media: https://www.profgmedia.com/ Kids Investment Club: https://www.kidsinvestmentclub.com/ Time stamps:0:00 Intro 1:18 Naval's $500 VC Fund Explained 5:54 Should You Trust Critics With 2K Followers? 7:21 Learn By Betting — Jason's Philosophy 10:10 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/twist 12:30 The Maduro Polymarket Scandal 13:28 Should the Military Bet on Missions? 19:55 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist 29:32 NYT Defends Theft & "Social Murder" 30:28 There Is No Moral Equivalence 33:41 The Nepo Baby Behind the Article 35:42 Prof G's "Resist & Unsubscribe" Movement 37:54 Walk The Walk — Hasan, Bernie & Performative Outrage 44:49 Teaching Kids About Money 48:21 The Rich Get Richer & The Poor Stay Poor Off Duty Recommendations “The Complete Maus” by Art Spiegelman: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Maus-Art-Spiegelman/dp/0679406417 “Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Bets-Making-Smarter-Decisions/dp/0735216355 “Queen of Chess” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pmJgtLKBXg Greenlight app: https://greenlight.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 Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis v 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

    50 min
  3. The Defense Tech Startup YC Kicked Out of a Meeting is Now Arming America | E2280

    3D AGO

    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/twist Today’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. output. Plus: PhD researcher Maruchi Kim just built camera-equipped earbuds that perform on par with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and could be the next wearable AI platform hiding in plain sight. Guests Will Edwards: https://x.com/williewockets Firehawk Aerospace: https://firehawkdefense.com/ Maruchi Kim: https://x.com/maruchikim VueBuds project: https://vuebuds.cs.washington.edu/ Related Links This Week in AI: https://www.thisweekinai.ai/ “Ghost Murmur: The Heartbeat-Tracking Tech That Has Experts Questioning the Laws of Physics”: https://www.military.com/feature/2026/04/18/ghost-murmur-heartbeat-tracking-tech-has-experts-questioning-laws-of-physics.html Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/ Meta Ray-Bans: https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/ Hanwha Defense USA: https://www.hanwhadefenseusa.com/ Raytheon: https://www.rtx.com/ Pilatus PC-24 corporate jet: https://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en/pc-24 PlaneSense: https://www.planesense.com/ Slopes app: https://slopesapp.com/ Speechify: https://speechify.com/ Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/ Timestamps: 0:00 Are all these layoffs really AI's fault? 8:51 Why laid off people should start their own companies 9:27 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/twist 13:18 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! 15:25 Will Edwards of Firehawk joins the show 15:46 What are Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs)? 20:06 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. 23:10 Who are Firehawk's customers? 24:25 Reimagining and reinventing the US military 28:35 How do missiles fit into the military's operations? 29:34 Agree - Stop chasing invoices at https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life! 31:01 What's next on the roadmap for Firehawk? 31:49 How to make propellant (with easy to find ingredients) 33:13 A cheaper way to fly private 38:03 Ro.co: Ro's insurance checker will let you know if your coverage includes GLP-1s for FREE. Go to https://Ro.co/Twist for your free insurance check. 40:48 Maruchi Kim of Vuebuds joins the show! 44:35 Why are VueBuds better than meta glasses? 46:23 The biggest VueBud use cases 48:09 Jason wants to use VueBuds on the slopes 55:38 Jason's advice for angel investors: never underestimate anyone! 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

    59 min
  4. SpaceX and Cursor team up to topple Claude Code | E2279

    5D AGO

    SpaceX and Cursor team up to topple Claude Code | E2279

    This Week In Startups is made possible by: LinkedIn Jobs - linkedIn.com/twist Grasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twist Notion - notion.com Today’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, while interesting, comes with a steep price tag. SpaceX will pay Cursor $10 billion for their shared work, with an option to buy the entire company for $60 billion later this year. After poking our way through the deal, Chris Zacharia and Brian McRindle of Bitstarter joined Lon and Alex. Bitstarter is a ‘Kickstarter for Bittensor,’ helping founders get their subnet up and running without tripping over their shoelaces. The Bitstarter crew also broke some news on the show, telling TWIST that they have a new accelerator-ish program kicking off. Next, Ning Ren from Trajectory RL joined the program to explain how Bittensor subnet 11 is using decentralized competitions to design and release better skills. Skills — markdown files with words — have become a critical building tool in the agentic era; how Trajectory will monetize is an open, interesting question. Timestamps: 2:27 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! 4:07 SpaceX/ xAI "partners" with Cursor! 9:35 Will the Cursor deal help pump a future SpaceX IPO? 9:57 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist. 12:14 How AI coding models like Cursor help xAI grow recursively. 17:24 Chris Zacharia and Brian McRindle of Bitstarter join the show. 20:23 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. 29:59 Notion - Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works with AI built right in. Try Notion, with Notion Agent, at https://www.notion.com/twist 33:03 How Bittensor subnets monetize and how it compares to VC funds. 37:04 Is Bittensor hard-capped at 128 subnets? 42:37 Bittensor's biggest weakness. 46:10 Ning Ren of TrajectoryRL joins the show. 47:34 Skills now need entire agents just to write them! 48:26 Back up… What are skills? 1:07:38 Amazon and Anthropic's 5 BILLION deal 1:08:48 Google has 2 new chips! 1:09:50 Apple CEO, Tim is COOKED! John Ternus is in! 1:11:37 Alex is bullish on MacBook Neo! 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 13m
  5. Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278

    APR 21

    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
  6. 3D-Printed Homes for $99K: ICON’s Jason Ballard on the future of housing | E2277

    APR 18

    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
  7. This 22-Year-Old Built TikTok for Mobile Games, and It’s Growing Fast | E2276

    APR 15

    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
  8. 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
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Hosts & Guests

4.2
out of 5
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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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