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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

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.

This Week in Startups

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

https://lightfield.app/

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https://conservationfund.org/

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Today’s show:

An OpenAI agent breached Australia's Medicare statistics portal in June, and it took 84 days for the Frontier Lab to publicly acknowledge it. Jason and Lon dig into whether this is an important cautionary tale about alignment, or if PM Anthony Albanese looking to join the AI conversation.

Then Bryant Chou of Ploy joins to explain skipping pre-seed and seed entirely to raise $27M, and why he’s taking his time to build his all-in-one agentic solution for running businesses.

Learn why Google is launching four TPUs into orbit for Project Suncatcher. PLUS, how many robots a week is Tesla now shipping with Optimus, and Jensen Huang told Ezra Klein basic math no longer matters. Is he right? Can we forget long division, at last?

Guests:

Bryant Chou on X: https://x.com/bryantchou PloyAI: https://ploy.ai/

Relevant Links:

Ploy raises $27M seed led by First Round Capital and Y Combinator (Founderland) → https://www.founderland.ai/articles/webflow-co-founder-launches-ai-marketing-platform-with-27m-s-mqj8o952

OpenAI's $2M-in-tokens offer to every YC startup(TechCrunch via Yahoo) → https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/sam-altman-makes-mic-drop-212302858.html

Original Bloomberg report on the a16z probe → https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-17/andreessen-horowitz-focus-of-doj-probe-over-board-directors

Google: Project Suncatcher's first test launch on SpaceX's Transporter-18 → https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-research/google-project-suncatcher-facts/

ABC News (Australia): full timeline, from the June 18 breach to OpenAI's Sept. 10 email → https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-24/ai-agent-accessed-australian-government-site-pm-says/107189078

Ando emerges from stealth with $20M to take on Slack (TechCrunch) → https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/24/ando-eyes-slack-as-it-builds-team-messaging-platform-for-humans-and-agents-to-work-together/

Google's $900M investment in SpaceX's $1B round, January 2015 (VentureBeat) → https://venturebeat.com/technology/google-confirms-it-put-900m-into-spacexs-1b-round

Tesla ramps Optimus to several hundred robots a week; hands are the bottleneck (Electrek, summarizing The Information) → https://electrek.co/2026/09/25/tesla-optimus-production-ramp-hands-ai-generalization-problems/

Jensen Huang tells Ezra Klein forgetting basic math may not matter, and that he doesn't know his own address (Kotaku) → https://kotaku.com/nvidia-ceo-doesnt-care-that-kids-are-forgetting-basic-math-because-of-ai-i-actually-dont-know-my-address-2000737092

Sydney Sweeney's Novig "Just Sports" ad and the athlete backlash, including Amy Hunt's comment (Yahoo) → https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/sydney-sweeney-novig-ad-controversy-172900515.html

Nike exits the S&P 100 after 18 years (Fortune) → https://fortune.com/2026/09/08/nike-stock-plummets-sp500-market-cap-index/

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth trailer: David Fincher directs Tarantino's script; IMAX Nov. 25, Netflix Dec. 23 (Variety) → https://variety.com/2026/film/news/the-further-mis-adventures-cliff-booth-trailer-brad-pitt-1236701901/

Timestamps:

0:00 Whoop fire alarm: Jason's dry-aged steak incident

4:45 News: an OpenAI agent breached Australia's Medicare statistics portal

12:48 Scraper or hack? Australia's PM jumps into the AI safety debate

13:31 News: Google launches four TPUs into orbit for Project Suncatcher

18:27 Guest: Bryant Chou of PloyAI

20:07 AD: Paper is the legal backbone for thousands of startup founders and fund managers - including Launch. Use getpaper.ai/twist to get your cap table free for a year - or two years if you're leaving Carta.

21:11 Ploy's thesis: your website as your hardest working employee

27:05 Why a repeat unicorn founder went back to Y Combinator

38:55 The DOJ probe into a16z's Databricks and Fivetran board seats

44:57 "Nobody's thinking about you": Jason's stair story

45:17 Frontier models vs. your own model, and OpenAI's $2M YC token deal

54:04 News: Ando wants to replace Slack with agent-native chat

1:01:08 News: Tesla ramps Optimus to several hundred robots a week

1:04:48 Off-Duty: Jensen Huang tells Ezra Klein basic math may not matter

1:08:31 The MIT "Your Brain on ChatGPT" EEG study

1:09:57 Jason's five-part reset: sleep, diet, exercise, socializing, meditation

1:11:45 Off-Duty: Sydney Sweeney's Novig ad backlash

1:21:07 The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth trailer

1:23:41 Jason's first car: a 1970 Mustang GrandeSubscribe 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

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

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A rogue OpenAI agent hacked Australia’s government. Does this matter? | E2342

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent: https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain Odoo: http://Odoo.com/twist Rippling: http://Rippling.ai/twist Plaud: http://Plaud.ai/twist Harmonic: http://harmonic.ai/

Today’s show:

Anthropic and OpenAI released cheaper models on the same day with Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6, and these VCs would still bet on open source. Jason brings on Dave McClure of Practical Venture Capital, Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital, and Jenny Fielding of Everywhere Ventures to discuss the argument for open-weight models over the frontier labs.

Learn why median seed valuations have more than tripled since 2017. Why does Dave say it's a buyer's market for secondaries right now? PLUS, does Meta's Muse leave any room for Instinct, and why are fintech and healthcare suddenly out of favor?

Guests:

Dave McClure on X: https://x.com/davemcclure?lang=en Practical Venture Capital: https://practicalvc.com/

Jeff Clavier on X: https://x.com/jeff Uncorked Capital: https://uncorkcapital.com/

Jenny Fiedling on X: https://x.com/jefielding Everywhere Ventures: https://www.everywhere.vc/

Relevant Links:

Instinct reportedly seeking $1B at a $10B valuation (report via The Information) → https://cryptobriefing.com/ai-assistant-startup-instinct-targets-10b-valuation-in-new-funding-talks-report/

Meta's Muse, the agent the panel sees as Instinct's biggest threat, now on Mac → https://aiweekly.co/alerts/meta-ships-muse-for-mac-agent-now-acts-in-native-macos-apps

Trump calls Jensen Huang onstage at the All-In Summit → https://thenextweb.com/news/trump-phoned-jensen-huang-onstage-at-the-all-in-summit-to-call-ai-fear-a-hoax

AI-assisted intel error nearly triggered a US intercept of a Chinese ship (CNN via gCaptain) → https://gcaptain.com/ai-error-nearly-triggered-u-s-intercept-of-chinese-ship-cnn-reports/

Bernie Sanders' 50% AI sovereign wealth fund bill + Altman meeting (Fortune) → https://fortune.com/2026/06/18/bernie-sanders-ai-fund-bill-sam-altman-1000-payments/

Stanley Druckenmiller's AI-written WSJ op-ed (Axios) → https://axios.com/2026/08/26/stanley-druckenmiller-ai-writing-wsj-op-ed

Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol/Luna launch the same day with price cuts (SiliconANGLE) → https://siliconangle.com/2026/09/22/anthropic-releases-claude-opus-5-5-and-openai-counters-with-two-cheaper-gpt-6-models/

Zipline: LAUNCH's "miss," later backed through the syndicate → https://www.flyzipline.com/

Micro1 → https://www.micro1.ai/

Founder University → **https://www.founder.university/** [VERIFY]

The Syndicate: angel invest alongside LAUNCH (apply, waitlist) → **https://thesyndicate.com/**

Timestamps:

0:00 What seed rounds looked like then: Fitbit's $2M seed

3:15 Jenny's Techstars NYC years and the two-unicorn mug

7:51 All-In Summit: Trump calls Jensen Huang onstage. Staged or not?

8:56 P(doom) roundtable + Dave's AI sovereign wealth fund prediction

10:08 Northwest Registered Agent - Got a new business idea? Northwest Registered Agent helps you bring it to life. Get a free domain, email, phone number, and more - with no purchase required! Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain

13:35 The AI intel error that nearly triggered a US-China incident

17:44 "McClure's Law": a human with AI is the real risk

19:59 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist

21:37 Stripe + OpenRouter: an anti-fraud play, not a routing play?

23:07 Seed valuations: median $8M (2017) to $28M today

23:58 Instinct: $2.5B to a reported $10B in weeks

29:49 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

44:01 Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Sol: the same-day price war

46:51 Gun to your head: open-weight models or frontier labs?

51:00 Secondaries: the top 30 names vs. everyone else

52:30 Why fintech and healthcare are unloved (and Jason's Robinhood bet)

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

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Follow Lon:

X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Jason:

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

Thank you to our partners:

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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

Subscribe to our Substack Newsletters!

TWiST: https://twistartups.substack.com/

TWiAI: https://www.thisweekinai.ai/

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Follow TWiST:

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VCs Would Bet on Open-Source AI Over OpenAI and Anthropic | E2341

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/twist 

DigitalOcean: http://do.co/twist 

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Today’s show:

Elon revives the Hyperloop, promising a 30-minute commute between Austin and San Antonio. It's the kind of project that could reshape how Texans think about getting between two major cities entirely. Then, Jason and Lon explain why this pitch is different from the other Boring Company tunnels.

Learn why President Trump wants to rename artificial intelligence itself and launch an "AI Force." It's a move that could reshape how the government talks about AI policy going forward. PLUS, a new startup's model refuses to write a single word of text, and it is 5 to 18 times faster with better accuracy. It's a completely different approach to how AI agents make decisions, and it might be a preview of where the industry heads next.

Relevant Links:

"Elon Musk's latest Boring Company pitch involves a Hyperloop between Austin and San Antonio" → https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/20/elon-musks-latest-boring-company-pitch-involves-a-hyperloop-between-austin-and-san-antonio/

The Boring Company → https://www.boringcompany.com/

Elon Musk's original 2013 Hyperloop white paper → https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_images/hyperloop-alpha.pdf

Trump's Truth Social post proposing "Superior/Extreme/Supreme Intelligence" and announcing an AI Force and AI czar → https://www.unite.ai/trump-proposes-renaming-artificial-intelligence-announces-ai-force/

TechCrunch: "Trump says it's time to rebrand AI with a new name — and he's also creating an AI Force" → https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/19/trump-suggests-rebranding-ai-with-a-new-name-says-hes-also-creating-an-ai-force/

Vercel AI Open vs Closed Source Volume Chart → https://vercel.com/ai-gateway/leaderboards/models

TypeSafe AI — makers of Jev, the "System One Model" → https://typesafe.ai/

TypeSafe AI blog: "Introducing System One Models & Jev" → https://typesafe.ai/blog/introducing-system-one-models-and-jev

GeekWire: "Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI assistant in new standoff over agentic shopping" → https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-blocks-metas-muse-ai-assistant-in-new-standoff-over-agentic-shopping/

Meta's Muse — the AI agent Amazon blocked from shopping on its site → https://www.meta.ai/

"Meta's Dina Powell McCormick: The Case for Data Centers, Backlash, AI Job Boom & Meta's Future" (All-In Podcast, YouTube) — the clip discussed on the show → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp2IbgJ5Z-8

Robocurve's RoboHarm report — the robot-safety benchmark discussed on air → https://robocurve.org/roboharm/

RoboHarm on GitHub (tasks, protocol, and tooling) → https://github.com/robocurve/roboharm

Timestamps:

0:00 Elon Musk revives the Hyperloop: a 30-minute Austin–San Antonio tunnel

1:03 A brief history of Hyperloop and the white paper

9:34 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

20:32 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

21:40 News: Trump proposes an "AI Force," an AI czar, and renaming AI itself

22:49 "Get back to work, nerds"

30:22 Lightfield - Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you — it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at https://lightfield.app

31:56 TypeSafe's Jev, a "System One" model built to decide, not chat

39:49 Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent

49:57 Dina Powell McCormick's tense All-In Summit exchange with Jason

1:02:38 Off-Duty: Robocurve's RoboHarm benchmark

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

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:

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Elon's New Hyperloop, Trump's AI Rename, and a Model That Won't Talk | E2340

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Superhuman:⁠ http://superhuman.com/⁠ Paypal:⁠ http://paypal.launch.co⁠ Odoo:⁠ http://Odoo.com/twist⁠ Plaud:⁠ http://Plaud.ai/twist⁠ Harmonic:⁠ http://harmonic.ai/⁠

Today’s show:

Hugging Face built a $399 open-source robot duck as a side quest, and sold 16,000 units off a single tweet. Co-founder Thomas Wolf joins Jason and Lon to explain Microduck happened, why storage is the company's real business, and what it felt like to get hacked by OpenAI's agents.

Jason takes apart Gavin Newsom's new AI "kill switch" executive order: if these models are so dangerous, why not start with the same KYC every bank already requires? PLUS, Snap’s new AI-integrated glasses could be a game-changer.

Guests:

Thomas Wolf on X:⁠ https://x.com/Thom_Wolf⁠ Hugging Face:⁠ https://huggingface.co/⁠

Relevant Links:

Hugging Face —⁠ https://huggingface.co/⁠

Microduck —⁠ https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/⁠

Pollen Robotics —⁠ https://pollen-robotics.com/⁠

OpenAI: the Hugging Face incident and the road ahead —⁠ https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/⁠

Governor Newsom's executive order —⁠ https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/californias-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-weigh-ai-oversight-including-kill-switch-3a98040f⁠

Anthropic Wet Lab —⁠ https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/18/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-lab-as-it-ramps-ai-drug-program-report.html⁠

Lucid and Bolt to deploy 25,000 autonomous EVs across Europe —⁠ https://electrek.co/2026/09/17/lucid-bolt-25000-autonomous-evs-europe/⁠

Snap opens pre-orders for Specs at $2,195 —⁠ https://www.specs.com/⁠

Ray-Ban Meta Display — the $799 comparison⁠ https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/⁠

Clavicular at All-In Summit —⁠ https://x.com/clavicular/status/2099994778616348811?s=20⁠

Physical: 100 (the Korean original) →⁠ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical:_100⁠

Bad Therapy —⁠ https://www.abigailshrier.com/⁠

Full Show Notes and Transcript from Pluad:⁠ https://web.plaud.ai/s/pub_194de893-8c55-4d77-81db-a6b278159a44::o9QfImqCq5VS0F_dqm4J93eTeyb-GsIeXCLwqASnvYAmt5f59OLQz5-VN1epnq6DBLoZWFales_7IbgC⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 Guest: Thomas Wolf, co-founder & chief science officer, Hugging Face

4:17 Two years to build Microduck

8:43 How Hugging Face actually makes money: storage, not tokens

10:16 Superhuman - Superhuman Go is an AI chat that's always there when you need it, already aware of what you're doing, and doesn't ask you to start from zero. Sign up to get the best in AI at https://superhuman.com

17:18 Vibe-coding robotics: "train this new behavior for me"

20:00 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co

23:20 Thomas Wolf's P-doom and the airplane-safety analogy

25:18 The Nvidia acquisition and what changes for open models

29:57 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist

38:39 Inside the Hugging Face breach: stolen credentials and basic mistakes

43:33 News: Newsom's executive order and the frontier-model "kill switch"

45:04 Jason's counter-proposal: liability, insurance, and KYC for AI

1:00:08 News: Lucid and Bolt to put 25,000 robotaxis on European roads

1:10:01 News: Snap opens pre-orders for $2,195 Specs AR glasses

1:21:43 Off-Duty: Clavicular, the All-In Summit

1:31:01 Off-Duty: Physical 100 goes to Italy and Mexico

Subscribe to TWiST on Substack:⁠ https://twistartups.substack.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

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

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TikTok:⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups⁠

Substack:⁠ https://twistartups.substack.com⁠

Hugging Face Co-Founder on Open-Source, Microduck, and NVIDIA | E2339

The TWiST AI Basics series is made possible by Google for Startups!
 Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here: https://goo.gle/technical_guide
 
 Today's show:
 The demo works, the vibes are immaculate, but then the app falls apart the second real users touch it. On today's AI Basics, Temporal co-founder and CEO Samar Abbas says the problem isn't with the model at all. You're missing a harness, the layer that keeps an AI agent's work durable, secure, and recoverable if/when something breaks.
 Temporal's durable execution platform is used by major companies from OpenAI to Stripe to Netflix, and helps to make their long-running software reliable and interruption-free.
 On AI Basics, he explains why so many AI-coded prototypes die in the imagineering stage, before ever hitting production. Plus he walks Jason through Temporal's live dashboard, to show how it gives developers full visibility into what their agents are doing at every step.
 Guest and Relevant Links: 
 Samar Abbas on X: https://x.com/SamarAtTemporal
 Temporal: https://temporal.io/
 Temporal raises $550M at a $12.55B valuation: https://temporal.io/blog/temporal-raises-usd550m-series-e-at-usd12-55b-valuation-ai
 GeekWire: Samar Abbas on the "massive platform shift" in AI: https://www.geekwire.com/2026/temporal-ceo-samar-abbas-on-the-massive-platform-shift-in-ai-fueling-the-startups-5b-valuation/
 Temporal expands Google Cloud partnership: https://temporal.io/blog/temporal-expands-google-cloud-partnership-with-pay-as-you-go-pricing
 Timestamps:
 0:00 Why every startup needs an AI harness
 2:12 Why 90% of AI prototypes never reach production
 4:16 What happens when an agent crashes mid-task
 7:00 A look at Temporal's dashboard
 13:02 OK but what is a "harness" exactly?
 15:30 When to graduate an agent from laptop to production
 17:44 Organizing agents into teams
 
 Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
 
 Follow Jason:
 X: https://twitter.com/Jason
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
 
 Thank you to our partner!
 Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here:
 https://goo.gle/technical_guide
 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 our suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@thisweekininc
 
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90% of AI prototypes never reach production (w/ Temporal's Samar Abbas) | AI Basics

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
 Wilson Sonsini
 
 Today's show:
 Spinouts are everywhere right now, and most founders get the cap table wrong. Jason sits down with Becki DeGraw, partner at Wilson Sonsini, to break down how to do it right, starting with his 80/20 rule for splitting the new cap table and why letting the old company keep too much of it kills your ability to raise.
 Becki also covers the legal side: who owns the IP, non-competes between the two companies, and the trap founders fall into when they're still on the old board. PLUS, the one question every Series A investor will ask.
 Guests:
 Becki DeGraw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/
 Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/
 Relevant Links:
 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) — **https://www.wsgr.com/**
 Becki DeGraw — https://www.wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html
 Waymo — Jason's headline example of a big-company spinout — https://waymo.com/
 Expedia's 1999 Microsoft spinout — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company
 Nvidia's ~$20B deal for Groq's asset— https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-buying-ai-chip-startup-groq-for-about-20-billion-biggest-deal.html
 Timestamps:
 0:00 What a spinout actually is
 0:50 Becki: the real "why" behind spinouts
 2:24 IP licenses and the "acquihire" workaround
 3:09 University spinouts
 4:41 Google/Waymo and Microsoft/Expedia: spinouts at scale
 5:03 Jason's 80/20 rule and the unicorn test
 6:06 The broken cap table problem
 6:36 Licensing deals as an M&A workaround
 8:44 Exclusive licenses, full assignments, and license-backs
 11:07 "What if Google spun out YouTube"
 12:31 Groq–Nvidia, capital gains vs. income
 13:23 Confidentiality, customer lists, and fiduciary duty traps
 15:16 Get the paper done BEFORE you start the new thing
 15:56 "It's a divorce," — and the employees are the kids
 
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 Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
 
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Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

Today's show:
 Can a founder actually fire a board member? Short answer: almost never. And the reason why may surprise a lot of founders.
 On this edition of Legal Basics, Wilson Sonsini partner Becki DeGraw joins Jason for a deep dive into who really controls your board, when investors start earning seats, and the differences between a board member and a board observer. Check out an episode that might just save your cab table someday.
 PLUS they walk through the full lifecycle of your startup's board, exploring what it actually controls, when founders should start adding their own board members, the ownership threshold that means investors will start asking for seats, and how boards evolve from seed rounds to Series B>
 Timestamps:
 0:06 Welcome back to Legal Basics
 1:47 When should a seed stage founder add their first board member?
 7:47 From founder-controlled to "balanced"
 10:31 Private vs. public company board pay
 12:18 Do board members get expenses covered?
 14:34 Why observers need a confidentiality provision
 15:36 The "sign in the next 24 hours" pressure tactic
 17:46 How to remove a director
 24:01 When to use "Pled" vs. "Pleaded"
 Check out all of the Startup Basics episodes here:
 https://thisweekinstartups.com/basics
 
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 Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
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 Follow Becki:
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/
 
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 X: https://twitter.com/Jason
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
 
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 Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

You Can't Fire a VC From Your Board: Here's Why | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

The TWiST AI Basics series is made possible by Google Cloud!
 Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here: https://goo.gle/technical_guide
 Astrocade is building super-intelligence for the interactive world. Build the future of fun: https://www.astrocade.com/careers
 Today's show:
 *Making a video game once required a studio, an engine, and a team of five or more people working for six months. But with Astrocade, users just describe the game they'd like to play and share, and an AI assembles it from minutes, ready to publish to a TikTok-style feed.
 Still, founder and CEO Amir Sadeghian tell us AI can't actually build a great game all on its own. The magic isn't just in the automation, but the user's creativity and good taste.
 Amir demos how the app turns simple sentences and descriptions into full video games, explains why frontier models still regress to the mean rather than pushing boundaries, and unpacks how the game's human-in-the-loop workflow can turn even generic ideas into something original and fun.
 Guest:
 Amir Sadeghian on X: https://x.com/_amirabs
 Astrocade: https://www.astrocade.com/
 Relevant Links
 Flappy Bird: https://flappybird.io/
 Plants vs. Zombies: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/popcap/plants-vs-zombies
 MrBeast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast
 Google's Nano Banana Pro: https://nanabananapro.com/
 Timestamps: 
 0:00 Welcome to AI Basics, presented by Google Cloud
 0:44 Amir Sadeghian, CEO of Astrocade joins
 1:08 What is Astrocade and how does it work?
 2:58 From describing to publishing: the TikTok for games
 3:37 Amir's origin story: four continents, one vision
 5:11 Why making games used to require years of training
 6:46 The watermelon juice theory of product friction
 7:35 Taste as the new programming language
 14:18 Personalizing games with your own images
 15:23 From consumer to prosumer: can you make a living?
 16:22 Astrocade's creator fund and new creator economy
 17:07 Open roles at Astrocade
 18:10 Why play is the most universal human language
 19:43 Google Cloud, Gemini, and wrapping up
 
 Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com
 Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
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 Follow Lon:
 X: https://x.com/lons
 
 Follow Jason:
 X: https://twitter.com/Jason
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
 
 Thank you to our partners!
 Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here: https://goo.gle/technical_guide
 Astrocade is building super-intelligence for the interactive world. Build the future of fun: https://www.astrocade.com/careers
 
 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
 
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 Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Taste is the new programming language (w/ Astrocade CEO Amir Sadeghian) | AI Basics

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
 Northwest Registered Agent- NorthwestRegisteredAgent.com/twist
 Odoo - Odoo.com/twist
 MongoDB - MongoDB.com/ai
 
 Today's show:
 The FCC's decision to ban Chinese humanoid robots over security concerns is a boon to American startups, which now face a narrower competitive market. But where should we draw the line on security over competition? Menlo Ventures' Deedy Das, Weisburd Pierce's David Weisburd, Plexo Capital's Lo Toney, and LAUNCH's Jason Calcanis broke down how they differentiate between legitimate security concerns and purported regulatory capture. Today's venture capital roundtable also dug into OpenRouter's possible sale to Stripe, changing tokenomics, the Indian market for startups, and even DoorDash's drone-delivery business taking flight.
 Guest Links:
 Deedy Das https://x.com/deedydas
 Menloe Ventures https://menlovc.com/
 Lo Toney https://x.com/lo_toney
 Plexo Capital https://www.plexocap.com/
 David Weisburd https://x.com/DWeisburd
 Weisburd Pierce https://www.weisburdpierce.com/
 Jason Calcanis https://x.com/Jason
 LAUNCH https://launch.co/
 Show Links:
 The FCC's decision regarding Chinese robots https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adds-foreign-produced-power-inverters-and-robots-covered-list-0
 Pacing the Frontier letter https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/
 Cursor Start https://cursor.com/blog/cursor-start-india
 Stripe may buy OpenRouter https://www.axios.com/2026/07/24/stripe-openrouter-merger-ai-currency
 OpenRouter financials https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openrouter-financials-suggest-steep-price-possible-acquirer-stripe?rc=g3wfdp
 Kimi K3 license https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3/blob/main/LICENSE
 Pangram https://www.pangram.com/
 Tau Robotics https://www.tau-robotics.com/
 Zipline https://www.zipline.com/
 Manna https://www.manna.aero/
 Kindred Ventures https://kindredventures.com/
 Autolane https://goautolane.com/
 Salmon Labs https://salmonrun.ai/
 
 Timestamps:
 0:00 The FCC bans Chinese humanoid robots
 2:18 Waymo, Uber, Robotaxi, and the global BYD threat
 10:30 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai
 15:45 The "Pacing The Frontier" letter (1,100+ AI staffers warn on RSI)
 19:51 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist
 21:07 Regulatory capture vs. genuine concern
 30:09 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
 37:57 Have we reached AGI?
 38:35 Stripe eyes OpenRouter at $10B
 39:19 Does OpenRouter have a moat?
 47:13 Kimi K3's license and neocloud margins
 49:34 Claude Tag and the future of AI-mediated workplaces
 53:26 Cursor Start, ChatGPT Go, and the India market
 1:02:03 Have we solved AI detection?
 1:11:20 Tau Robotics $30/hour robotic housecleaning
 1:12:49 Job loss, and the social safety net
 1:18:25 DoorDash Air takes on Zipline, Manna
 1:21:00 Portfolio shout-outs
 
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 Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
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 X: https://x.com/lons
 
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 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
 
 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:
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 Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Banning Chinese robots isn't regulatory capture | E2318

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
 Every.io https://every.io
 MongoDB https://MongoDB.com/ai
 Agree https://agree.com
 
 Today's show:
 *Most lab-grown meat companies have already gone under. It's expensive to produce, and there's little demand from real-world consumers. But Tokyo's IntegriCulture is still standing after selling their proprietary serum to cosmetics companies.
 On Episode 3 of TWiST from Tokyo, Jason sits down with Dr. Yuki Hanyu, an Oxford-trained chemist who started a DIY meat movement out of a comic convention and turned it into Japan's first cell-cultured protein company.
 PLUS why the cultivated meat market stalled out, why producing a "slurry of cells" is more efficient than jumping right to muscle tissue, the regulatory framework in Japan vs. the US, and… is it fair to call this "meat"? Or is it something else entirely?
 Guest
 Yuki Hanyu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-hanyu-b860bb34/
 IntegriCulture: https://integriculture.com/en/
 Relevant Links:
 AG Funder News: "IntegriCulture turns a profit": https://agfundernews.com/cell-ag-picks-shovels-pioneer-integriculture-turns-a-profit-but-cautions-that-as-long-as-cell-ag-remains-so-capital-intensive-it-will-be-difficult-to-take-off
 Vegconominst: Cultivated duck liver coverage: https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-meat/japans-integriculture-products-cultivated-duck-liver/
 Cellament skin care ingredient: https://www.cellament.jp/cellament-en?lang=en
 Medium: Shojinmeat Project: https://medium.com/shojin-meat
 Cellular Agriculture Institute of the Commons (CAIC): https://cellagri.org/en/about-us
 Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA): https://jaca.jp/en/
 Upside Foods: https://upsidefoods.com/
 Vow: https://www.eatvow.com/
 Impossible Foods: https://impossiblefoods.com/
 Fast Company: "Inside the stunning collapse of Believer Meats": https://www.fastcompany.com/91462102/believer-meats-stunning-collapse-600-million-cooling-cultured-meat-industry
 AG Funder News: "FDA clears Wildtype's cell-cultivated salmon": https://agfundernews.com/fda-clears-wildtypes-cell-cultivated-salmon-for-us-debut
 Food Navigator: Parima gets green light for cultivated duck: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/04/15/parima-gets-regulatory-approval-for-cultivated-foie-gras/
 Protein Production: "Japan publishes first draft safety guidelines for cultivated meat…": https://www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/japan-publishes-first-draft-safety-guidelines-for-cultivated-meat-as-regulatory-debate-advances
 Stateline: "Texas bans lab-grown meat": https://stateline.org/2025/06/30/texas-becomes-seventh-state-to-ban-lab-grown-meat/
 TODAY: "Japan's Coca-Cola Plus has an unexpected ingredient": https://www.today.com/food/japan-s-coca-cola-plus-has-unexpected-ingredient-t121047
 Timestamps:
 0:00 Why founders should visit Japan
 1:48 Intro of cultivated meat pioneer, Dr. Yuki Hanyu
 3:19 Why don't consumers want lab-grown meat?
 10:05 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io
 10:26 DIY meat manuals at comic conventions
 15:37 Flavors that don't exist in nature
 19:35 The Wagyu Hot Dog
 21:38 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai
 24:23 Why chicken nuggets are the hardest problem
 28:28 Beachhead markets, waypoints, and surviving early
 30:25 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!
 35:57 Q&A: Commercializing an open source project
 37:56 Q&A: Growing protein in space
 40:07 Should this be called "meat"?
 
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 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

While other cultivated meat companies are collapsing, this one turned a profit | E2317

Todays show: Wilson Sonsini Partner Becki DeGraw joins Jason on the latest edition of Startup Legal Basics! In this episode, they break down challenges in distressed companies(1:04), pay-to-play scenarios (2:31), the importance of a market check in financing (9:25), and high-profile legal and ethical issues (18:03).
 *
 Timestamps:
 (00:00) Wilson Sonsini partner Becki DeGraw joins Jason
 (1:04) Distressed companies and VCs leaving the board; Challenges in distressed companies
 (2:31) Insider-led down rounds and pay-to-play scenarios
 (7:07) Legal actions and stockholder lawsuits in successful turnarounds
 (9:25) The importance of a market check in financing; Voting against board decisions
 (18:03) Character and incentives in the startup ecosystem; High-profile legal and ethical issues
 *
 Check Out Wilson Sonsini: ⁠⁠https://www.wsgr.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 Becki:
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62
 *
 Follow Jason:
 X: https://twitter.com/Jason
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
 *
 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

Navigating Challenges in Distressed Companies with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

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