First Jason covers the $19M Bored Ape Yacht Club bid on Sotheby's & the Loot NFT collection launched by a Vine co-founder (1:42), and briefly covers Tether being banned from Canadian exchanges (11:07). Then serial founder and investor Joe Lonsdale joins (19:53) to discuss his companies (Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov), his new podcast "American Optimist," what regulations need to be fixed in the US, China's bold moves & more.
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 20 min
First, Jason discusses how to balance product vision with customer feedback in a FounderU segment (0:57). Then, actor and investor Adrian Grenier joins to discuss the launch of his new fund DuContra Ventures (20:52), the importance of saying "No" (33:24), acting (41:23) and more!
Sep 03, 2021•57 min
Jason chats with Miso Robotics CEO Mike Bell (1:07), about automating food preparation, filling the labor gap, the consequences of robots, growing with crowdfunding and more. Then, TWIST Producer Rachel Braun interviews Dan Toomey about the strategies he uses to run the Morning Brew TikTok account.
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 5 min
The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs have been going crazy in the secondary market, Jason brings on collector and co-founder of media site "The Infatuation" Andrew Steinthal (2:04) to chat about why he bought in, why he's not selling, and the overall mechanics of the community. Then, TWIST producer Rachel interviews the Nicole DeTommaso of Harlem VC (33:25) about how she broke into venture capital with a pitch deck!!!
Sep 01, 2021•57 min
First, Jason covers the kickoff of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial (1:48). Then, Blokable Co-CEO & Co-Founder Aaron Holm joins (16:37) to discuss solving the housing crisis, the Phoenix Rising project (27:05), why vertical integration is the key to making modular affordable, green materials (40:53), why LA's homeless housing project went way over budget (46:46) & more.
Aug 31, 2021•1 hr 17 min
First Jason covers the CCP banning US IPOs for big tech companies, closing the VIE loophole (1:50), then Audius Co-Founder Roneil Rumburg joins (18:44) to talk about his "decentralized SoundCloud," how decentralized crypto projects actually work for investors and executives, and more!
Aug 27, 2021•1 hr 10 min
In the news segment, Jason covers unicorn SaaS Startup called HeadSpin has been accused of a massive fraud by the SEC and DOJ (2:06), and Pacaso real estate startup offering fractional ownership of vacation homes is causing outrage in wine country (17:35). Then, Jason interviews Not Boring's Packy McCormick (34:41), about his time at WeWork competitor Breather (36:14), turning his newsletter into a venture fund (59:12), and Packy's vision for crypto - it's one of the best explanations we've hear...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 15 min
In today's news show, Jason covers OnlyFans being back to business as usual (1:31), the stablecoin Circle cleaning up commercial paper from their USDC reserves (16:49), and does a break down of Warby Parker's S-1 as the company prepare to go public via direct listing (30:30).
Aug 25, 2021•47 min
In this news episode Jason covers Facebook finally revealing their Q1 transparency report after they originally shelved the report for PR purposes (2:08), Tyga deleting his OnlyFans account and announcing he will launch a competing platform (23:59), the WSJ's coverage of where Jack Ma is now (36:19) & more!
Aug 24, 2021•51 min
Jason breaks down the OnlyFans' pivot away from sexual conduct (1:54), then he covers all the robot highlights from this week, Boston Dynamics robots doing backflips (23:34), Disney creating AI characters (31:25), and Tesla's announcement of "TeslaBot" (38:21) & more.
Aug 20, 2021•50 min
Jason breaks down the 2 metrics he uses to to assess Robinhood's Q2 earnings (1:43) and Amazon entering Department Store retail (16:39). Then, Mark Suster from Upfront Ventures joins (24:07) to discuss venture metrics, community as a moat, why high valuations don't necessarily mean a bubble & more.
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 33 min
Jason opens the show with a brief recap of "Noodlegate" and the end of cancel culture (2:09). Then he chats with OpenGov CEO Zac Bookman for the latest installment of our Next Unicorns series (14:10) about what makes governments ineffective (25:46), preventing corruption (30:37), the challenges selling into governments (35:54), how some states like Idaho & West Virginia have made their detailed budgets public on the cloud and more!
Aug 18, 2021•56 min
Podcasting from Italy after a 2-week break of news, Jason covers Casey Newton's failed dunk on Superhuman's $75M raise (2:58), the privacy implications of Apple's approach to preventing child porn distribution (23:14), the Helium Networks internet project (35:02), crypto regulation (43:03), and how WhatsApp is handling Afghanistan (49:45).
Aug 17, 2021•59 min
Steve Martocci, the CEO of Splice (also co-founder of Blade & previously sold GroupMe to Skype) joins for our Next Unicorns series to discuss how music rights work (10:07), growing a high-quality marketplace (21:59), AI music creation (36:10), & more
Aug 13, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Jason discusses how founders can secure follow on funding (1:57), then is joined by investor Zach Coelius to answer listener questions on technical co-founders (38:21), successful founder traits (40:41), founder red flags (46:07), why startups fail diligence (56:17) and more.
Aug 12, 2021•59 min
Jason does a Founder University segment on how to generate startup ideas (1:55), then Zach Coelius joins to take some "Ask an Angel" questions: what data points are most valuable when iterating on product (29:03), what skills are most important to be a success in VC (36:410), what skills are most important to be a success in VC (42:51).
Aug 11, 2021•50 min
Nick Kokonas joins to discuss his his company Tock (10:50), his world-class restaurant group Alinea (0:54), how restaurants can improve their operating leverage (18:05), digital experiences augmenting hospitality (39:41), why tipping needs to be replaced (44:50), the labor supply (56:16), inflation (1:00:27), employee health and more!
Aug 10, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman joins to discuss the current U.S. housing situation (05:05), homebuilding rates, San Francisco (23:43), remote work (28:22), generational work-life balance differences (35:24), Redfin's approach to real estate (46:52), regulation, DOJ & MLS (58:33), & more.
Aug 06, 2021•1 hr 18 min
In a Founder University segment, Jason compares running a bootstrapped vs. venture-backed company (1:17), discusses 'pegasus' companies (11:09), advises what types of businesses should take VC (23:59), and explains what motivates VCs (33:27). Then Zach Coelius joins to take some listener questions (38:48).
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Fitbod CEO Allen Chen joins to discuss how they got funded & why they haven't deployed their capital (01:06), the importance of being user-centric when building a consumer app (17:44), how Allen plans grow to 1 million customers (29:14), & more!
Aug 04, 2021•52 min
Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal from Acquired join to discuss David's new venture fund Kindergarten Ventures (00:56), how to structure a VC fund (12:16), Jason's super pro-rata strategy (30:17), podcasting (35:50), and they tease the next episode on "The Mount Rushmore of Venture Capital" (56:11) & more!
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Alex Wilhelm from TechCrunch joins Jason to chop up this week's news. They cover Robinhood & Duolingo's IPOs (3:40), consumer subscription businesses (25:09), Google's growth (28:25), the startup funding landscape (38:51), Amazon (42:46), China's actions against tech (47:35), Apple (1:04:19) & more!
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 31 min
Jason covers the Grand Jury indictment of Nikola founder Trevor Milton for making false claims to investors (1:50) and gives short recap of Robinhood's IPO (18:55). Then, Brandon Brown joins to discuss his company GRIN (25:40), the influencer economy, shifting advertising trends, social media platforms and more.
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 17 min
Jason breaks down Google's earnings and compares Netflix & Youtube (3:22). Then, in our Next Unicorns series, Devin Finzer (27:01), the Co-Founder and CEO of OpenSea (an NFT marketplace) joins to discuss the innovations that helped NFTs take off (37:58), the future of collectibles & more.
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Jason covers China reigning in big tech (2:03), Tesla’s incredible Q2 earnings crossing $1B in profit (25:30), a $300M market movement from Tether to USDC (33:24), and gives a breakdown of a Binance Crypto Pump Telegram group (37:43).
Jul 27, 2021•42 min
Tether executives are reportedly facing a DOJ criminal probe for bank fraud! Jason breaks down Bloomberg's report (1:31), Tether's response (10:34) and assesses potential implications for the wider crypto ecosystem, including if this had anything to do with Sunday night's Bitcoin surge. (16:29)
Jul 27, 2021•26 min
In this rapid fire news episode, Jason covers a16z-backed Dfinity's crypto class action complaint (02:46), Snapchat and Twitter's massive earnings (19:33), the CCP considering turning it's ed-tech sector non-profit (34:15), Alphabet's new company (40:23), San Francisco's 17M sq. ft. of vacant office space (47:22), and then reflects on some old Disney+ predictions (58:28).
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Jason covers China's increasing penalties for Didi (2:52), Twitter's test of a downvote feature (12:13), and how the UAE was able to induce rain with electricity (17:32). Then Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform labs joins (22:38) to discuss his stable coin project TerraUSD (31:18), the underlying cryptocurrency LUNA, and shed light on Tether as crypto insider (59:56).
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 12 min
In the news segment, Jason reacts to the Tether CTO & General Counsel's interview on CNBC (2:22) and digs in to Netflix's latest earnings report (37:35). Then, Vincent founder Slava Rubin joins to discuss all things alternative assets (44:26), his work founding Indiegogo, Launch’s investment, trading cards (1:17:19) & more.
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 27 min
In news Jason covers Bezos reaching space (2:32), Robinhood's S-1/A (13:28), Circle's new USDC attestation (22:25), crypto crackdown in Asia (36:06), Zoom buying Five9 for almost $15B (46:00) Keith Rabois' OpenStore (47:11). Then for our Next Unicorns series, Jason interviews Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langely, about reducing crime in American cities and neighborhoods (50:18).
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 37 min
