This Week in Startups

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.

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Episodes

LMArena Goes Startup, AI App Wars Begin, Scott Bair’s Design Playbook | E2114

Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon discuss the rise of LMArena as it spins out into a full-fledged startup, what that means for AI benchmarking, and how it could monetize its growing community. They also dive into the emerging value of application-layer AI startups and why OpenAI’s acquisition spree is just beginning. Plus, branding expert Scott Bair drops tactical design tips for founders—from logos to product UX—that can give your startup the edge. Timestamps: (0:00) AI companies and value acc...

Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 2114

AI Progress and Impact on Ecosystem Players with CapitalG’s Jill Chase | AI Basics with Google Cloud

In this episode of AI Basics, Jason sits down with CapitalG partner Jill Chase to break down how AI is reshaping the startup ecosystem — from founders to investors to incumbents. They cover how CapitalG (Alphabet’s independent growth fund) thinks about the AI stack, why speed alone isn’t enough for startups today, and how to build durable advantages in a world where anyone can copy your product. Jill shares insights from portfolio companies like Motif (next-gen CAD for architecture) and Abridge ...

Apr 17, 2025•25 min

Cuts CEO Talks Tariffs, Figma's IPO Buzz, and a Nerd Crawler Update | E2113

Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon discuss Figma’s surprise IPO filing following its $1B breakup from Adobe, OpenAI’s quiet push into social networking through a Sora image-sharing feed, and how sweeping new China tariffs are wreaking havoc on ecommerce companies—impacting jobs, supply chains, and pricing. Plus: the Substack vs. Patreon battle heats up, Lyft expands internationally, and we talk to the founders of Nerd Crawler and Cuts Clothing about how policy decisions ripple through startup la...

Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 2113

Vertical AI Innovations: Abacus LLM in Finance & Synthesia's Video Avatars | E2112

Today’s show: Alex interviews founders from Abacus and Synthesia—two companies leading the charge in vertical AI. Abacus is deploying on-prem LLMs to banks and insurers with a focus on data control, accuracy, and integration with legacy infrastructure. Synthesia just hit $100M ARR by helping 70% of the Fortune 100 turn internal documents into scalable AI video. If you're interested in how generative AI is moving from hype to real enterprise utility, this one's for you. Timestamps: (0:00)...

Apr 15, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 2112