This Week In Startups is made possible by: Sentry.io - sentry.io/twist Hubspot - clickhubspot.com/twist2 Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Today’s show: One day soon, you might consult an AI general practitioner about your health, and then the computer will recommend human specialists to take up your case. On TWiST Tokyo, Jason chats with Fred Almeida — founder and CEO of American Medical Intelligence Inc. — and Maxwell Weiss, a partner at Pacific Bays Capit...
Jan 24, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 2239
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/savings LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twist Today’s show: On today’s TWIST episode, Alex interviews two of the top startup co-founders: Keller Cliffton of Zipline and Anastasis Germanidis of Runway. Zipline announced its $600 million raise at a $7.6 BILLION valuation. Kellers breaks down the origins, economics, and future of Zipline’s contrarian be...
Jan 21, 2026•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 2238
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Circle.so - http://Circle.so/twist Deel - http://deel.com/twist Uber AI Solutions - http://uber.com/twist Today’s show: Not long ago, promising young Japanese graduates wanted to go work for the largest, most established, and even oldest corporations: Sony, Mitsubishi, and the like. But now, just over the last few years, more and more Japanese people are becoming entrepreneurs and founders. TWiST Japan continues with a fascinating look inside the countr...
Jan 20, 2026•58 min•Ep. 2237
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Lemon.io - https://lemon.io/twist Deel - http://deel.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twist Today’s show: Some pitches sound just like ads… and it’s a huge red flag for investors. On our latest edition of TWiST Tokyo, Jason welcomes legendary angel investor (and long-time friend of the pod) Thomas McInerney. His list of investments reads like a Who’s Who of the tech elite, including Notion, SpaceX, Uber, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity…. ...
Jan 16, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 2236
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Every.io - http://every.io/ LinkedIn Jobs - https://www.linkedin.com/twist Zite - http://zite.com/twist Today’s show: Why do 40% of Japanese students want to build a company rather than join the corporate workforce? On TWiST, Jason considers this question along with special guest Kathy Matsui, general partner of the global VC fund MPower Partners. Their wide-ranging discussion also features a look inside one of Jason’s favorite international companies, ...
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 2235
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Netsuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twist LumaAi - https://lumalabs.ai/twist Squarespace - https://squarespace.com/twist Today’s show: Government fraud and waste has become a prominent issue in the last month. That’s what we are looking at. On Today’s episode of TWiST, Jason interviews Alex Shieh of the The Antifraud Company. Under the False Claims Act, enterprising Americans, like Alex, can receive up to 30% of fraud dollars they uncover! Jason digs in...
Jan 13, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 2234
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Caldera Lab - http://calderalab.com/TWIST Pipedrive - http://pipedrive.com/twist Today’s show: TWiST is coming to you all from TOKYO as we launch Japan’s first-ever Founder University! That’s right, a full week of key insights from Japan’s top founders, investors, and tech visionaries… when we can pull ourselves away from our favorite izakaya spots, that is. First up, Jason welcomes Hyr...
Jan 13, 2026•52 min•Ep. 2233
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Hubspot - http://clickhubspot.com/twist1 Circle.so - http://circle.so/twist Sentry - http://sentry.io/twist Today’s show: On the last TWiST episode before Jason goes to Japan and Alex begins on paternity leave, the hosts break down the blockbuster tech news that is kicking off 2026. Discord AND Strava both eyeing billion dollar IPOs, two massive social media apps with millions of daily active users. Jason unpacks Discord’s the growth story, from a gamin...
Jan 10, 2026•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 2232
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Gusto - https://www.gusto.com/twist Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twist Quo - http://quo.com/TWiST Today’s show: We keep hearing about how AI is killing our ability to think, filling our media with slop, and ruining our kids’ ability to learn. It seems the internet is filled with negative sentiment about the future AI is bringing. Jason is joined by Grant Lee, CEO and co-founder of Gamma, as well as Steven Johnson, editorial director of NotebookLM to tack...
Jan 08, 2026•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 2231
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/build Uber - http://uber.com/twist Every.io - http://every.io/ Today’s show: Jason and Alex are BACK on TWiST for 2026! This holiday season was anything but calm, with deca-corn acquisitions, massive Polymarket bets, and major new startups breaking from stealth! Jason talks the recent Nvidia-Groq $20B acquisition, a major exit for Chamath as the lead investor back in 2017! Jason delves into how the VC fund math shapes ou...
Jan 06, 2026•55 min•Ep. 2230
This Week In Startups is made possible by: LinkedIn Ads - http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups Squarespace - https://squarespace.com/twist Hubspot - http://clickhubspot.com/twist1 Today’s show: We’re saying goodbye to 2025 with our annual TWISTY Awards, looking back on our favorite pod moments from throughout the year. Featured clips include Jason’s message to the members of Reddit’s r/AntiWork community… Why JCal would NEVER work with Sam Altman or OpenAI… The time that Jason got doxxed and t...
Dec 30, 2025•56 min•Ep. 2229
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent- https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Vanta - http://www.vanta.com/twist Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twist Today’s show: Jason’s already a millionaire many times over… but what are the huge, blockbuster, dream purchases that he’s still holding off on? BESIDES the private jet we all know he wants? The Noti Gang has asked, and JCal finally answers, on a holiday TWiST where we’re taking questions from viewers and fans. ...
Dec 29, 2025•45 min•Ep. 2228
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Caldera + Lab - http://calderalab.com/TWIST Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/build Uber - http://uber.com/twist Today’s show: Why did a power outage in the Bay Area cause Waymos to pile up on city streets? Jason was actually in San Francisco to take in the spectacle of Waymos blocking traffic. But why did this happen? And can we look forward to a day when automated cars are more graceful and coordinated than ballet dancers performing “Swan Lake”? We’re ...
Dec 23, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 2227
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Luma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twist Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twist Today’s show: DID YOU KNOW… most of the tried and true techniques devised by marketing gurus in the ‘40s and ‘50s still apply today? On TWiST, we’re joined by online marketing expert Sam Parr, host of “My First Million” and founder of Hampton. He’s sharing all of his top tips and tricks for making your writing...
Dec 20, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 2226
This Week In Startups is made possible by: LinkedIn Ads- http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups Squarespace - https://squarespace.com/twist Enterpret - http://Enterpret.com/twist Today’s show: How do top tech CEOs hire? AI has thrown out the playbook for getting hired — so what are the most innovative firms looking for? Anyone can learn any skill and automate much of it, what is to be valued in the modern labor market? On our first AI Roundtable episode of TWiST, Jason is joined by three top tec...
Dec 18, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 2225
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Vanta - https://www.vanta.com/twist NetSuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twist Lemon.io - https://lemon.io/twist * Today’s show: Domestic robots have never been hotter… so why is iRobot in so much trouble?! On TWiST, we’re investigating the recent troubles facing the automated vacuum robot, Roomba. We’ve all seen these little discs sweeping up our friends’ floors… but now the company behind them is running out of cash. What happened to iRobot, and would ...
Dec 16, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 2224
This Week In Startups is made possible by: LinkedIn Ads - http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups DevStats - https://www.devstats.com/twist Crusoe - https://crusoe.ai/build Today’s show: FINALLY, you can hang out with Kylo Ren and Olaf the Snowman… thanks to the magic of AI. On TWiST, we’re digging into the mega OpenAI-Disney deal. Mickey is giving Sam Altman a $1 billion investment AND will allow is copyrighted characters to appear in Sora and ChatGPT images. Of course, Jason predicted this woul...
Dec 13, 2025•58 min•Ep. 2223
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Uber - http://uber.com/twist Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Today’s show: Boom is still making supersonic jets but ALSO plans to start selling their turbines as power sources for AI data centers. It’s a perfect example of problem-solving on the go and how “the best founders… MAKE IT HAPPEN.” Join us for another insightful VC roundtable episode, featuring special guests Bryan Ki...
Dec 11, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 2222
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Goldbelly - Goldbelly.com Every.io - http://every.io/ Zite - zite.com/twist Today’s show: Today, Zapier’s a multi-billion company helping enterprises integrate AI agents and other time-saving shortcuts into their workflows… but we had the founder on TWiST when they were just getting started! In a 2016 chat, founder Wade Foster walked JCal through their 2012 seed round, running a small entirely remote team with no HQ, the complexities of building a tool ...
Dec 10, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 2221
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Superhuman - https://superhuman.com/podcast Squarespace - https://squarespace.com/twist Enterpret - https://www.enterpret.com/dlp/this-week-in-startups Today’s show: A screenshot showing a “Target Ad” in ChatGPT results went viral… over the weekend, but the OpenAI chatbot has NOT actually opened the advertising floodgates just yet. As ChatGPT staffers were quick to explain on social media, this was actually an invitation for a user to integrate their Ta...
Dec 09, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 2216
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Sentry - http://sentry.io/twist LinkedIn Ads - http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups Pipedrive - pipedrive.com/twist Today’s show: Netflix wants to gobble up Warner Bros. Do they just want to own Batman and Harry Potter, or is this secretly about destroying movie theaters? Sure, this is usually a startup show, but news THIS BIG warrants attention! So Lon stops by to tell Jason and Alex about the big Netflix acquisition news, why so many theatrical movi...
Dec 06, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 2219
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Crusoe - http://crusoe.ai/build Gusto - https://www.gusto.com/twist Today’s show: Delegating is its own unique skill, requiring training and a real investment of time and attention. On TWiST, Jason chats for a full hour with the founder of one of his favorite startups, Athena, which trains online assistants and pairs them with busy founders and executives. (Jason has 2!) But get...
Dec 04, 2025•57 min•Ep. 2218
This Week In Startups is made possible by: LinkedIn Ads - http://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups Vanta - https://www.vanta.com/twist Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist Today’s show: Did you know there’s actually a shortage of US bricklayers? It’s TRUE! So feel free to marvel at Monumental’s brick-laying robots. They’re not putting anyone out of work, but filling a much-needed gap. Join Alex and Monumental founder/CEO Salar al Khafaji for a deep-dive on how the startup is making construction robots ...
Dec 03, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 2217
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Quo - http://quo.com/TWiST Squarespace - https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST Miro - http://miro.com/ Today’s show: Michael Saylor’s Strategy play is struggling with the price of Bitcoin on a steep decline… Is his new “dollar reserve” the answer? On TWiST, we’re looking into the state of $MSTR and why Jason remains SO skeptical about this increasingly convoluted financial scheme. Is CNBC giving Michael Saylor a pass? Is that why he won’t go on “All-In”? An...
Dec 02, 2025•58 min•Ep. 2216
Register here to join Founder University Japan’s kickoff! 👉🏻 https://luma.com/cm0x90mkToday’s show: On TWiST, Alex is chatting with Neubird CEO Gou Rao about the intricate complexity of IT Ops, and the vast amount of layers and components that have to be delivered very quickly to your phone in order to stream a simple video clip.Neubird has developed Hawkeye, an AI “engineer” that uses “context engineering” to isolate and troubleshoot problems, while still keeping costs down. Loading up a vide...
Nov 26, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 2215
Register here for Founder University Japan’s Kickoff 👉🏻 https://luma.com/cm0x90mk Today’s show: The team from Familify had released a well-reviewed storytelling app for kids and parents… but it just wasn’t growing! Then they noticed that Bible stories and faith-based content was particularly popular. So they decided released a brand new app, Theo, just for these sorts of lessons and stories. And the new product overtook Storybook in just a few weeks! It’s a vital lesson for founders… Even if y...
Nov 24, 2025•52 min•Ep. 2214
Register here to join Founder University Japan’s kickoff: https://luma.com/cm0x90mk Today’s show: Google and Meta had their cases dismissed (or received a slap on the wrist)… Despite all the backlash and cynicism, AI companies continue making bank and releasing hot new products… What does it all mean? For Jason Calacanis, the signs are pointing to a “major M&A moment,” with huge opportunities for increased efficiency and consolidation among America’s favorite brands and largest companies? Wh...
Nov 22, 2025•56 min
Today’s show: The race for more compute gets all the headlines, but Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch tells us the REAL danger is running out of data! On TWiST, Jason and Alex are chatting with the head of France’s largest foundation AI company, Mistral AI, about how enterprises can get more out of their AI pilots, whether the West is lacking leadership on open-source, why Mistral AI isn’t pursuing every possible kind of AI application, and optimizing your models for performance rather than benchmark...
Nov 20, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 2212
AI Model Showdown: Grok 4.1 vs. Gemini 3 | E2211 Register for Founder University Japan’s Kickoff! https://luma.com/cm0x90mk Today’s show: *Will the arrival of two hotly-anticipated, intensely powerful AI models snap the Doomer cycle? On a new TWiST, Jason and Alex consider the current AI landscape, one where cynicism about insider mega-deals, fear of job displacement, and concerns about bubble bursts seem to rule the day. Will the arrival of two powerful new models — xAI’s Grok 4.1 and Google’s ...
Nov 19, 2025•47 min•Ep. 2211
*Are we finally reaching Peak eVTOL? Jason and Alex on Joby’s big Abu Dhabi moves and Archer’s purchase of LA’s Hawthorne Airport. On a PACKED Monday TWiST, Jason is BACK from MENA and Tokyo. Hear tales from his whirlwind trips launching new Founder University satellite programs… and find out why construction and fintech are BOOMING across the Middle East. PLUS Ramp raised $300M… here’s why Alex calls the round “pretty baller.” We question why AI companies are growing SO MUCH FOUNDER than their ...
Nov 18, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 2210
