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

    15 HR 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

    1hr 3min
  2. Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275

    2 DAYS AGO

    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

    1hr 19min
  3. Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274

    5 DAYS AGO

    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

    1hr 22min
  4. 3 AI Agents That Actually Replaced Human Jobs | E2272

    7 APR

    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

    1hr 19min
  5. AI Rebuilt Every YC W26 Startup. Should Founders Be Scared? | E2271

    3 APR

    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

    1hr 21min
  6. How 3 CEOs Use AI to Run $10B in Companies | This Week in AI

    2 APR

    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, OpenAI shutting down Sora, the build vs. buy debate for AI tools, and how close we really are to AGI. AI's Biggest Blind Spot, Tabular Data: LLMs transformed text, images, and code, but 70-80% of enterprise data lives in rows and columns.Copper Can't Keep Up: Nick explains why AI data centers are hitting a wall. GPUs compute faster than they can communicate. Lightmatter's photonic chips push 1.6 terabits per fiber and can 3x training speed.Why OpenAI Killed Sora & Anthropic's Focus is Winning: Victor breaks down why even OpenAI had to learn the lesson of focus, and why Claude Code has every founder talking.Vibe Coding Your Own CRM vs. Buying Salesforce: Jeremy reveals Fundamental built their own internal CRM using vibe coding. The panel debates when building beats buying and when it's a distraction.The Omnipresent CEO: Jason shares how he's using AI agents for root access to Slack, Gmail, and Notion, resurrecting former employees as AI personas, automating SDR workflows, and summarizing employee inboxes while they're on vacation.Are We Already at AGI?: Nick says the rate of progress is a double exponential. Jeremy argues AGI is a moving goalpost. Victor warns of "Future Shock" and societal disruption.🔗 Learn more about Fundamental: https://fundamental.tech🔗 Learn more about Synthesia: https://www.synthesia.io🔗 Learn more about Lightmatter: https://lightmatter.coThis Week In AI is made possible by:PayPal Open - One Platform for all Business: paypalopen.comTimestamps:00:00 Welcome & intro to Jeremy Fraenkel, Victor Riparbelli, and Nick Harris01:47 What is Fundamental? Large tabular models explained07:01 Victor Riparbelli on Synthesia & why OpenAI killed Sora11:09 Claude Code dominance & the Lightspeed founder retreat12:08 Nick Harris on Lightmatter, photonics & the new Moore's Law14:38 Copper vs. fiber: why AI data centers are hitting a wall18:44 Reinventing video: interactive, real-time, personalized21:32 The economics of a custom AI movie23:55 Why Amazon, Google & Meta are building their own chips28:06 Tables have a bandwidth problem too32:27 When will compute be as cheap as storage?36:10 The future of software: every company gets a custom stack38:06 Vibe coding your own CRM vs. buying Salesforce45:57 Jason's quest for root access to Slack50:18 The omnipresent CEO: Doctor Manhattan meets Jesus CEO52:13 Resurrecting former employees as AI personas53:25 Victor's executive changelog for a 650-person company55:07 Whisper Flow & the Plaud Pin1:00:03 AGI: is it already here?1:03:37 Jeremy: we've only solved half the brain1:06:30 70% of Americans fear AI will impact jobs1:08:47 Future Shock & keeping the rope tight*Mentioned in the show:* Wisper Flow: https://wisperflow.ai Plaud Pin: https://www.plaud.aiAthena Executive Assistants: https://www.athenawow.comWHOOP: https://www.whoop.com"Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler: https://www.amazon.com/Future-ShockAlvin-Toffler/dp/0394425863Victor on TWiST, E1776: https://youtu.be/jxET4fq_2eANick on TWiST, E1787: https://youtu.be/FPW2nnEqfMsSubscribe to This Week in AI on Apple: https://thisweekinai.ai/spotifySubscribe to This Week in AI on Spotify: https://thisweekinai.ai/appleThanks for watching!🤖 If you want to stay ahead of the curve on all things AI, make sure to join our community across all platforms:📩 Get the Weekly Newsletter: https://thisweekinai.ai/📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinAIPodcast📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinaipodcast

    30 min
  7. The 5-Step Framework for AI Agents That Improve While You Sleep | E2269

    31 MAR

    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/TWiST LinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twist Iru - https://iru.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist Today’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-step framework for designing an efficient AI agent team: Start with one agent and onboard them like a new hire Stop Googling fixes; just ask your agent how to use it Put your agents on fixed schedules Add shared memory so you don’t have to repeat yourself Let agents run self-reviews and rewrite their own instructions. Get the walkthrough to put this entire plan into practice on today’s episode. PLUS fresh demos of the “Minecraft”-inspired virtual workspace MoltWorld and AgentMail, which is Gmail for your AI pals, and Jason explains the thinking behind his viral, controversy-stirring “don’t talk to journalists” tweet. Follow Shubham: https://x.com/Saboo_Shubham_ “How I Built an Autonomous AI Agent Team That Runs 24/7” on X: https://x.com/Saboo_Shubham_/status/2022014147450614038?s=20 Follow Mike: https://x.com/mihalich1988 MoltWorld: https://moltworld.io/ Follow Haakam: https://x.com/haakamaujla AgentMail: https://www.agentmail.to/ Jason’s post about talking to journalists: https://x.com/Jason/status/2037573025458016659 NYT responds: https://x.com/NYTimesPR/status/2037648223771263082 Translated Japanese tweets: https://x.com/melonneet40/status/2038020624015315289, https://x.com/rambling_28/status/2038041455999246422 Japanese people singing “Country Roads”: https://x.com/harukaawake/status/2038081269830222259 Trailer for “Nuremberg” (now on Netflix in the US): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvAy9C-bipY Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:24 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! 3:05 We're Claw-pilled once again; it's an all AI Agent showcase 6:15 Google AI PM Shubham Saboo's Top 5 OpenClaw tips 10:14 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) 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. 13:26 Tip #1 — Onboard your agent like a new hire 17:31 Tip #2 — Talk to your agents constantly 19:02 Tip #3 — Put your agents on a schedule 19:51 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist. 23:41 Tip #4 — Add cross-agent memory 29:33 Tip #5 — Let your agents self-improve 29:51 Iru unifies identity, endpoint security, and compliance into one platform. TWiST listeners get 20% off when they book a demo at https://iru.com/twist! 34:03 Why Jason says founders should avoid journalists 38:24 How biased IS the New York Times? 47:02 DEMO: Co-founder Mike Nosov shows us MoltWorld 51:14 But what's the utility of this? 1:05:15 DEMO: Haakam Aujla presents AgentMail (YC S25) 1:09:59 How does AgentMail make money? 1:17:03 How Grok Translations are creating cross-cultural dialogue on X 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

    1hr 27min
  8. The $60 billion resource hiding in space, and the start trying to mine it (feat. Matt Gialich, Astroforge) | E2268

    27 MAR

    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/twist Circle - http://circle.so/twist Deel - http://deel.com/twist Today’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 company's ambitious mission, what went wrong on their first two flights, and why Mission 3 could still change everything. PLUS Sam Dare from Templar stops by to talk about training AI models on a decentralized blockchain, and why it’s so much cheaper and more efficient than the conventional “data center full of GPUs” method. AND a demo of OpenOats from creator Yazin Alirhayim of his open source Granola alternative. Astroforge: https://www.astroforge.com/ Templar: https://www.tplr.ai/ Epoch AI decentralized training post: https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-far-can-decentralized-training-over-the-internet-scale OpenOats on Github: https://github.com/yazinsai/OpenOats Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:59 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! 3:05 We aplaud Plaud! 3:18 Astroforge is mining… asteroids?! 6:11 How creating an abundance of Platinum will impact Humanity! 9:56 Wispr Flow: Stop typing. Dictate with Wispr Flow and send clean, final-draft writing in seconds. Visit https://wisprflow.ai/twist to get started for free today. 21:16 Circle: The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off the Circle Plus Plan by going to https://circle.so/twist. 22:01 How Astroforge uses capitalism to unlock abundance 24:35 J-Cal subscribed to… A socialist magazine? 26:19 Sam Dare of Templar joins the show! 27:47 What is TAO doing that's uniquely different from Bitcoin 30:15 What is the incentive mechanism that Templar uses? 30:44 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. 37:49 How much does it cost to run templar's model? 45:16 Can decentralized training over the internet scale? https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-far-can-decentralized-training-over-the-internet-scale 47:16 Jason addresses his tao investment 48:48 Why brand is the moat for startups 49:47 When will a better, more exciting version of Bitcoin, can come along? 52:20 Yazin of OpenGranola Joins the show 53:36 How OpenGranola has local LLM's taking notes for you and giving you real time insights in your meeting! 1:01:45 Jason's callout for a sidebar that shows all inputs from agents 1:13:50 The economics of the new harry potter series and HBO/ Warner Brothers 1:23:33 Why Jason wants government surveillance on Disney adults… 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

    1hr 39min
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Hosts & Guests

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
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jason Calacanis
  • Show Website
    This Week in Startups

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