KPop Demon Hunters breaks records, Grok speeds up, and an AI-powered browser deep dive | E2171

“KPop Demon Hunters” is one of the year’s biggest smashes… AFTER Sony sold it off to Netflix for cheap! Hear about what went wrong with one of the year’s worst deals… PLUS Grok is counting on SPEED to help it outpace rivals… How Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) ran into trouble on the podcast circuit… Nvidia’s big earnings report, and why everyone is watching that company in particular SO closely… PLUS a new Polymarket predicting the future of OpenAI!

Market Update and Trends w/ Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

Today's show: Wilson Sonsini Partner Becki DeGraw returns to Startup Legal Basics with Jason to break down what’s happening in today’s startup market. From excess dry powder on the VC side to companies struggling to “grow into” their valuations, Becki shares what founders need to know about deal terms, pay-to-play provisions, and the shift from the 2021 heyday to today’s more structured environment. • Why down rounds and structured deals are becoming more common • How “pay-to-play” works (and why it’s showing up so often now) • The psychology of VCs vs. founders during tough fundraises • What the M&A landscape really looks like in 2025 v Legal provisions investors are using to protect themselves in today’s talent wars Whether you’re a founder preparing for your next round or an investor navigating tougher terms, this conversation will help you understand the new realities of startup fundraising.

Google is Nano Banana, Apple AI plans & The Great H1B Visa Debate | E2170

Today’s show: On a brand-new TWiST, Jason and Alex are asking why there are SO MANY note-taking AI apps? Plus another death has been linked to ChatGPT… is it too easy to get past chatbot guardrails? Why Donald Trump Jr. is joining Polymarket…. How the US Navy could catch up with its international rivals… AND should Apple just buy a big AI company to help them catch up? All that PLUS a visit from Colin Russ, whose viral H1B Visa thread might just inspire Jason to reach out to his good friend, Vice President JD Vance. Check out the full episode!

xAI’s App Store lawsuit, Intel shares vs. grocery stores, and Netskope’s IPO | E2169

Today’s show: On an upbeat and optimistic new TWiST, Jason and Alex are debating why any new innovation or technology gets hit with a wave of bitter cynicism. PLUS Jason defends the government taking shares of Intel, explains the importance of interoperability, and predicts how AirBnB’s Joe Gebbia will upgrade the US government’s website design. All that PLUS thoughts on the Netskope IPO, Perplexity offering publishers actual revenue share, a deep dive on the new AI-based PAC, thoughts on open-source LLMs, and much much much more.

Do Kwon Guilty, Powell Pivot & OpenAI’s $12B Run Rate | E2168

Today’s show: Terra’s collapse, Powell’s pivot, and OpenAI’s explosive growth all collide in this TWiST deep dive. Do Kwon has pled guilty after Terra/Luna’s $60B implosion, Fed Chair Powell hints at a September rate cut, and OpenAI has officially crossed $1B in monthly revenue (on a $12B run rate). Jason and Alex unpack what this means for founders, LPs, and the next wave of AI + crypto. They also cover Canva’s $42B comeback, Anthropic’s doubled $10B fundraise, and the brewing battle between Figma & Canva. Plus: Uber, Nuro & Lucid’s $6B robotaxi push — and why drivers are already protesting in Wuhan & Boston. #Startups #Crypto #AI #VentureCapital #OpenAI #Anthropic #Canva #Figma #ThisWeekInStartups

Is Chalk.ai the ‘Next Databricks’? + Tollbit’s Bot Paywall for AI Agents | E2167

Today’s show: In this TWiST 500 double feature, Alex sits down with two breakout founders: Chalk’s Marc Freed-Finnegan & Tollbit’s Toshit Panigrahi! First, Chalk’s CEO Marc Freed-Finnegan is tackling one of AI’s biggest bottlenecks—data freshness. Instead of relying on stale batch jobs, Chalk delivers real-time pipelines for inference compute, automatically transpiling Python into C++/Rust so it can run blazing fast in production. Investors are calling it the ‘next Databricks’—and after hearing this convo, you’ll see why. Then, Tollbit’s CEO Toshit Panigrahi returns after raising a $24M Series A and signing up 1,400+ publishers. With RAG traffic exploding and robots.txt losing its teeth, their ‘bot paywall’ could reshape how AI agents pay for the content they consume. Are we heading for a Spotify moment for data licensing? A must-watch if you care about the economics of AI, from data pipelines to publisher monetization.

Scaling AI Photo Editing to 300M Users with Photoroom’s Matt Rouif | AI Basics with Google Cloud

In this AI Basics episode, Jason sits down with Matt Rouif, Co-founder & CEO of [Photoroom](https://www.photoroom.com/) — the AI photo editing app with 300M+ downloads and 5B images processed annually. They break down: - Why Photoroom built its own specialized AI models - How they grew from a scrappy startup to $50M+ in revenue - Lessons in product-led growth (from eBay sellers to DoorDash & Amazon) - Red-teaming, brand safety, and building trust in AI imagery - The future of personalized ads, content, and design This one is a masterclass for founders, operators, and builders. * Timestamps: (0:00) Matt Rouif joins Jason to discuss AI Basics. (0:45) Meet Matt Rouif: Photoroom’s $50M+ AI photo startup (3:15) Live demo: background removal + virtual try-on (7:40) From indie sellers to DoorDash & Amazon (12:20) The “Barbie Movie” API moment (17:05) Red-teaming AI: trust, safety & brand protection (22:10) Running a 100-person AI startup (26:30) The future of personalized ads (put *you* in the ad?)

Decart makes AI faster, Lume teaches lamps to fold laundry | E2166

We’re back with two insightful new TWiST founder interviews. First up: Dean Leitersdorf of Decart tells us about squeezing maximum productivity out of your GPUs. But it’s not all talk: he also shows us the incredible open world model that can magically transform live footage. THEN! Jason and Alex chat with Syncere AI founder Aaron Tan about Lume, his robotic lamp device that went viral for folding laundry. Hear why Aaron thinks the future of robotics is not necessarily humanoid, and all about his future plans for the Lume arms.

Meta’s “Sensual” AI Doc LEAKS, Opendoor’s dreams became memes +  OpenAI plans $1T data center spend | E2165

It’s a Friday TWiST and Jason and Alex are FIRED UP about this internal Meta doc laying out appropriate vs. inappropriate AI behavior… You won’t BELIEVE with what Zuck approves for 8-year-old users. PLUS… AI job displacement is HERE, at least in the Big Apple… Jason’s getting kind of paranoid about the surveillance state… AI remains frothier than ever through new Cohere and Cognition rounds… and why we’re dubious that Sam Altman REALLY plans to spend $1 trillion on OpenAI data centers. It’s all happening on a brand-new This Week in Startups. Give it a click!

The End of the ZIRP Era, and why recruiting is SO PAINFUL | E2164

We’re back with another all-star VC roundtable discussion. Joining Jason are Dave McClure of Practical VC, NVNG’s Grady Buchanan, and Tomasz Tunguz of Theory VC. Together, they’re having a deep insider discussion of the state of venture, secondary markets, running funds of funds, the legacy of Lina Khan, the difficulty of recruiting, and why the pendulum has potentially swung in founders’ favor.

GPT Psychosis is spreading, the NYT is Super-Doxxing Zuck, and Trump is wetting his beak on Chinese chip exports | E2163

Today’s show: On an all-new Monday TWiST, Lon joins Jason and Alex to talk about a whole bunch of stories at the intersection of tech, business, and pop culture. First up, is GPT Psychosis real? And if so, what are the warning signs that your loved ones have been ONESHOTTED. Then, why did Jason get so upset at the NY Times piece about Mark Zuckerberg’s Palo Alto compound? PLUS we’re discussing Trump’s export fees on AMD and Nvidia, Jason’s pitch for why the president should work more closely with Congress, a new tool in the search for rare-earth minerals, just how many self-driving trucks are on Chinese roads today, and much much more!

GPT-5 comes alive, Apple is struggling, and Ripple bought Rail | E2162

Today’s show: Jason and Lon recorded a Thursday night special edition, so no Alex this time, but still lots to talk about. First up, Jason thinks it’s time for Tim Apple to exit the stage in lieu of a product obsessive innovator. Speaking of new products, GPT-5 is here and the hosts are… not exactly blown away. Are we in the midst of the AI trough of despair? PLUS we’re talking Ripple’s acquisition of Rail, Donald Trump’s new AI chatbot, Bumble’s new direction, Airbnb’s potential paths forward and MUCH MUCH MORE.

Chinese coffee hits NYC, RIP Hulu, GPT-5 arrives and more | E2161

It’s a brand-new PACKED episode of TWiST. Jason and Alex welcome guest Zach Dive of Adam.new, to tell us why he made a deepfake AI ad starring Jason and the All-In besties. PLUS a rundown of the biggest tech and startup news of the day, including Disney’s decision to sunset Hulu, OpenAI’s new open-weight models, the Cloudflare vs. Perplexity feud, Uber’s newly-announced stock buyback, China’s Luckin Coffee coming to Manhattan, and much much more!

Lina Khan’s Figma victory lap, Meta’s Superintelligence Team, BYD mega car-carrier video & MORE | E2160

Jason and Alex are running down the biggest tech, startup, and business stories of the day on a brand-new Monday TWIST. Which countries are leading the AI race, based on academic papers? Why Jason thinks covert agencies are spying on Meta’s superintelligence team. Lina Khan’s taking a victory lap on the Figma IPO but what did she REALLY accomplish during her Biden administration tenure? PLUS, why we’re bringing Founder University to the MENA region. All that and MORE on a packed episode! Find out why we’re the #1 podcast for startups and founders.

TWiST 500 interviews with Cortical Labs, Turing, AND Mercor | E2159

Today’s show: Alex is back with three more awesome interviews with founders on the bleeding edge of innovative tech. - Dr. Hon Weng Chong walks us through the basics of biological computing and Cortical Labs’ first-ever commercial computer running on living human cells. - Turing founder Jonathan Siddarth unpacks the secrets of LLM benchmarking, and explains why even our most advanced tests need to get much much harder right away. - Finally, Mercor founder Brendan Foody on how AI is about to reinvent the hiring process, and marrying the effectiveness of recruiters with the ease of online job boards. It’s three — count ’em, three — can’t miss TWiST interviews guaranteed to make you smarter

All Star Investor Panel! Sophia Amoruso and Ryan Hoover | E2158

Today’s show: It’s another All Star Investor Panel! Jason and Alex welcome TrustFund VC founder Sophia Amoruso AND WeekendFund investor/Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover. Together they’re going DEEP on the current environment for startups, founders, and investors. How do tell durable from brittle revenue… Everyone’s different approaches to follow-on investments and recycling… Strategies on when to trim a position… The benefits of hosting co-working events and jam sessions… And LOTS LOTS more! It’s an essential watch for anyone building or investing in companies in 2025!

Figma IPO, IMAX AI Festival, the Tea app spill, that one Sydney Sweeney jeans ad, and more! | E2157

SYDNEY SWEENEY’S AMERICAN EAGLE AD DIVIDES OUR PANEL! PLUS WHAT STARTUPS CAN LEARN FROM THE VIRAL ASTRONOMER RESPONSE Jason, Alex, and Lon are looking at some of the biggest media stories of the day before returning to their favorite topic, tech. Tune in for deep dives on IMAX’s new AI film festival, Figma’s big IPO and much more!

Behind the scenes at the ALL-IN AI SUMMIT w/ POTUS, JD Vance, Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, and more… | E2156

Today’s show: Jason’s back and filling us in on his experiences in Washington DC, at the All-In AI Summit, including getting a Trump shoutout from stage, debating immigration with VP Vance, and calling out Sec. Wright for dismissing solar power. THEN Jason and Alex talk about the immense promise of open-source robotics and check out Hugging Face’s Reachy… PLUS picking apart the White House’s new AI-related executive orders, why Jason is afraid of China repeating its Huawei success, a free exchange about tariffs vs. free trade, AND a pressing query from a founder on Reddit: how bad is it to add AI to your product too early?

AUTOMATING HEALTH CARE, THERMODYNAMIC COMPUTING, AND PRODUCT VELOCITY | E2155

Today’s show: TWiST is back with a three more hugely insightful (and also fun!) founder interviews. First up, Trey Holterman from Tennr tells us why getting in to see a specialist is so time consuming, and how AI is making the entire health care industry more streamlined. THEN Gill Verdon from Extropic AI unpacks deterministic vs. probabilistic computing, and how thermodynamics can make everything from robots to VR more effective. FINALLY, Tyler Denk from our fav newsletter platform Beehiiv walks us through their future roadmap, and explains why they’re adding new features SO OFTEN. It’s a packed episode full of fresh insights for founders. Check it out!

Manufacturing in the US, Building in Open Source… and more | E2154

TWiST is back with a trio of can’t miss interviews with some of our favorite TWiST 500 founders. First up, John Jeremy Harris of Harbinger Motors tells us about making his EV batteries right here in the USA, and why the loss of EV tax credits might not hurt the business as much as you’d think… THEN, we’re talking to James Hawkins of PostHog about how keeping his burn rate low opened up a wealth of new opportunities for his company… THEN Yoshi Yokokawa from Alpaca HQ stops by to talk about working in a category that’s no longer the hottest thing in the Valley (like fintech) and the importance of stable coins to his business model. You won’t want to miss this one! Tons of fresh and important insights for founders.