This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

Coda. Coda empowers your startup by bringing words, tables, and teams together. Strategize, plan, and track goals effectively with all your valuable data in one place. Go to https://www.coda.io/twist to get started for FREE and get 6 free months of the Team plan.

Lemon.io - Hire pre-vetted remote developers, get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist

Gusto. Gusto is easy online payroll, benefits, and HR built for modern small businesses. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at ⁠https://www.gusto.com/twist

*

Todays show:

Alex and Jason discuss Databricks’ record raise, TikTok’s big day at the Supreme Court, Shishir Mehrotra on the Coda-Grammarly merger, and more.

*

Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason and Alex kick off the show (3:38) Insights on Databricks' private fundraise and venture capital trends (8:37) Predictions on unlimited free energy, water, and food

(9:41) Coda - Empower your startup with Coda’s Team plan for free—get 6 months at https://www.Coda.io/twist (14:25) The declining costs of cloud computing (17:12) Evaluating growth rate for startup valuations (19:46) Competitive landscape: Databricks vs. Snowflake

(20:48) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist 22:07 The strategic importance of selecting the right customers 26:34 Venture capital communication and the ghosting phenomenon 28:43 TikTok's ongoing legal challenges

(31:25) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist (32:33) Shashir Mehrotra on the Coda-Grammarly merger (37:16) Vision and applications of the Coda-Grammarly partnership (42:35) Future of AI agents and Grammarly's role (45:13) SaaS industry dynamics and AI's role in upselling (49:10) The impact of AI on job automation and workforce productivity (54:40) Team sizes and AI-driven productivity debate (57:18) The future interaction with AI agents (1:00:40) Efficiency gains from combining Grammarly and Coda (1:02:02) The role of ChatGPT and AI in social media (1:03:46) Tailoring AI tools for business needs (1:06:26) Lessons from mergers and acquisitions in the tech sector (1:08:08) Strategic acquisitions and their importance in the tech industry

*

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 Shishir:

X: https://x.com/shishirmehrotra

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shishirmehrotra

*

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

*

Thank you to our partners:

(9:41) Coda - Empower your startup with Coda’s Team plan for free—get 6 months at https://www.Coda.io/twist

(20:48) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist

(31:25) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist

*

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

*

Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916