This Week in Startups

By Jason Calacanis

Technology Business Investing

What's This Week in Startups about?

Every day, Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood cover startups, technology, markets, media, crypto, and the all the hottest topics in business and tech. They also interview the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors and innovators.

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“Minions” record-breaking v...

07.06.2022

On today's show, Molly and Jason catch up after the long weekend (0:00) before breaking down how the new "Minions" movie broke a box office record by using TikTok, catchy hooks, and viral marketing (5:19). They also cover TikTok dropping ...

This Week in Startups episodes:

07.06.2022 “Minions” record-breaking viral strategy, TikTok algo, reframing semiconductors & energy \| E1500 On today's show, Molly and Jason catch up after the long weekend (0:00) before breaking down how the new "Minions" movie broke a box office record by using TikTok, catchy hooks, and viral marketing (5:19). They also cover TikTok dropping ...
07.03.2022 VC School: What’s a venture scale business + Matt Duesterberg of OhmConnect \| E1499 For today's VC Sunday School, Molly asks Jason about what makes a venture scale business (2:20). Then, for This Week in Climate Startups, Molly sits down with Matt Duesterberg, co-founder of OhmConnect (19:38).
07.01.2022 Crypto crash updates, Sequoia’s structure, $ZM product expansion, Starlink & more \| E1498 First, we cover an update from the BlockFi CEO denying that FTX is buying them for $25N (2:33), and we have a couple more crypto quick hits (5:51) before we touch on Sequoia's largest investments being down 70% (34:01). Klarna ...
07.01.2022 FTX buys BlockFi for $25M, Sequoia raising $2.25B, AI Umpires for MLB, Substack layoffs \| E1497 First, we talk about Meta’s new Facebook Groups overhaul that looks like Discord (2:35). Then we touch on Sequoia raising over 2 billion for its US venture and growth funds (20:31) and FTX acquiring BlockFi for $25M, 99% below their ...
06.30.2022 Downtown Josh Brown & Michael Batnick on Disney+, Peloton, Knicks, podcasting, markets, & more \| E1496 Today, Jason is joined by the hosts of “What are your thoughts?” Downtown Josh Brown (CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management) and Michael Batnick (Managing Partner at Ritholtz Wealth Management). They discuss the Knicks (1:22), Podcasting (14:25), markets (26:20), Disney (37:52), ...
06.28.2022 SBF buys the crypto dip, hedge funds short Tether, VC funding down, flying nuclear cruise mockup \| E1495 First, we dig into the crypto contagion where FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is stepping in to backstop crypto lenders (2:56). Then, we check in on the billions of dollars sitting in SPACs- remember those (39:27)? We do a quick hit ...
06.27.2022 Digital surveillance risks post-Roe v. Wade ruling with Legal Voice’s Kim Clark + PE firm acquires Zendesk for $10.2B \| E1494 Today, we bring on Kim Clark, an attorney at Legal Voice, who reached out to Molly after listening to our shows last week that mentioned the impacts of surveillance on healthcare privacy, notably abortion (2:13). And in related news, today’s ...
06.26.2022 How to co-invest with other firms (VC School) + Electric Sea Gliders: REGENT Co-Founder Billy Thalheimer \| E1493 For today's VC Sunday School, Molly asks Jason about co-investing with other VC firms (3:11). Then for This Week in Climate Startups, Molly sits down with REGENT co-founder Billy Thalheimer to talk about the ins and outs of their electric ...
06.25.2022 Praying For Exits on Markets, Crypto, Startup Valuations + Anisha Sunkerneni of Cyphr VC \| E1492 Today, Jason sits down with the anonymous account Praying For Exits — they discuss everything going on in markets, crypto, startup valuations post-crash, and even what was behind the All in podcast controversy (3:09). Then, Producer Rachel sits down with ...
06.23.2022 Obi-Wan finale + Healthcare’s hidden money pit with Capital RX CEO AJ Loiacono \| E1491 Today we bring on Lon Harris to discuss the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale (2:23), then we do a quick hit on the FDA taking action against Juul (42:14). Finally, Molly chats with AJ Loiacono from Capital RX, who is laser-focused on ...
06.22.2022 TikTok data security, the Chinese surveillance state, Amazon running out of warehouse workers \| E1490 Today we kick it off with a discussion of BuzzFeed’s reporting on TikTok, and we debate if there are real risks to worry about here (2:04). Then, we discuss Amazon forecasting it will run out of workers in some of ...
06.21.2022 NFT NYC, Solend takeover, Why Non-Finance use cases are the key to Crypto, Magic Eden & more with Vinny Lingham \| E1489 There’s been some crazy news in Crypto, so we bring on Vinny Lingham, an early investor in Solana, who runs a startup that encrypts identity information on the blockchain called Civic. We dig into NFT NYC (8:24), the fiasco on ...
06.19.2022 When to take a meeting (VC School) + Fungi Flour: Hyfé Foods Founder Michelle Ruiz (Climate) \| E1488 For this week's VC Sunday School, Molly asks Jason about when to take a meeting with a founder (2:20). Then for This Week in Climate Startups, Molly speaks with the CEO and Founder of Hyfé Foods, Michelle Ruiz (16:45). Finally, ...
06.18.2022 Kraken CEO Jesse Powell responds to NYT hit piece and breaks down the state of crypto + Alexander Olesen CEO of Babylon Micro-Farms \| E1487 Today, we recap the Warriors' finals win (2:50) with some potential takeaways for founders (14:00). Next, Jason speaks with Jesse Powell: founder, and CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, and they discuss the state of crypto and the recent hit piece ...
06.16.2022 Apple & Disney’s sports streaming strategy, Facebook’s plan to be TikTok, Obi-Wan, Star Trek \| E1486 It’s Thursday, so we talk all about streaming with our guy Lon Harris! Spoiler alert as we dive into Obi-Wan Kenobi E5 (1:53) and Star Trek E4-5 (34:48). We cover Disney losing cricket streaming rights in India (41:44) and Apple ...
06.15.2022 YouTube shorts vs. TikTok, Crypto contagion, Twitch ad changes, China found aliens? \| E1485 First, we’ll dig into the creator economy: Youtube shorts almost has as many users as TikTok (3:06), and Twitch is changing how they pay creators (24:00). We quickly hit on some breaking news as The Federal Reserve approved its steepest ...
06.14.2022 Coinbase lays off ~18%, EU crypto regulation, $NFLX & $ROKU ad-tech talks, Hallow prayer app, Prey laptop security \| E1484 Today, we kick off the episode with Coinbase’s several hundred-person layoffs (3:23) and the EU’s crypto regulation in progress (23:15). We cover Netflix talking with Roku to help run its planned ad-supported tier (35:18). Our Startup of the Day is ...
06.13.2022 Crypto drops ~$200B, Celsius freezes, Binance’s BTC pause, Google AI sentience, Magic Spoon: DTC isn’t dead \| E1483 On today's show, Jason and Molly cover crypto losing $200B from its total market cap this weekend (14:51) and Binance pausing withdrawals of Bitcoin for almost 4 hours this morning (29:53). We also quickly talk about a Google engineer claiming ...
06.12.2022 How to value startups (VC School) + Creating Diamonds from Air with Aether’s Ryan Shearman (Climate) \| E1482 For today’s VC Sunday school, Molly asks Jason about valuation- valuing startups (1:44). Then for This Week in Climate Startups, Molly sits down with Ryan Shearman, CEO of Aether, to talk about how Aether makes diamonds using carbon extracted from ...
06.10.2022 Disney’s ambitious streaming goals with Lon Harris + Dressd Founder Capri Wheaton \| E1481 Today, Lon Harris joins for This Week in Streaming and we talk about Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 4 (1:49), then we cover some Disney news as they fire their head of General Entertainment Content, Peter Rice (43:05), and enter a bidding ...
06.09.2022 Twitter bots & Apple BNPL with Deirdre Bosa + Prediction markets with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour \| E1480 Today, Deirdre Bosa from CNBC joins Molly to talk about Twitter’s plans to comply with Musk’s demands for data (1:28), Apple being its own bank for Apple Pay Later (17:15), and Facebook's parent Meta changing its ticker to META (32:19). ...
06.09.2022 Amazon’s Dave Clark joins Flexport, Bird layoffs, Twitter’s bring-your-own algo, Multiverse, Ken Griffin gets into crypto \| E1479 Today, we talk about Flexport Founder Ryan Petersen bringing on Amazon’s Dave Clark to be CEO (2:56). Then, we discuss Bird laying off almost a quarter of their team (17:32), and we talk about Twitter working on a bring-your-own algorithm ...
06.07.2022 Why BuzzFeed fell 40%, EU mandates USB-C, Lab-grown ear transplants, Tom Brady’s Series B \| E1478 BuzzFeed is tanking- we talk about what it means for its employees and the company (2:07). Next, we discuss Uber Eats coming for GoldBelly (23:51), then we cover the EU mandating that USB-C ports be standard by 2024 (36:17). We ...
06.07.2022 Apple’s new releases, Twitter bots, Didi returns, Bad actors on Binance + Michael Shellenberger’s vision for California \| E1477 Jason talks with independent candidate for California Governor Michael Shellenberger on what he wants to improve in California (2:57). Then, we cover Apple's 2022 WWDC (48:40). We cover the $2.35B of illicit funds laundered through Binance from hacks, investment frauds, ...
06.05.2022 Markups & markdowns (VC School) + Coral Regeneration with Coral Vita’s Sam Teicher (Climate) \| E1476 First, in VC Sunday School Jason answers Molly’s questions about markups and markdowns (1:35), then in This Week in Climate startups, Molly talks with Coral Vita’s Sam Teicher about Coral Regeneration (33:37).
06.04.2022 Coinbase & Loom rescind job offers (strategies for managers & workers during a downturn) + OK Boomer: Mehak Vohra of SkillBank \| E1475 Today we have a Warriors Game Recap (2:01), we discuss the new Apple emojis (11:29), and then we dive into more layoffs news: Coinbase and Loom rescinding job offers (26:34). Jason and Molly give tips on how to not get ...
06.02.2022 Sheryl Sandberg leaves Meta + This Week in Streaming with Lon Harris: Obi-Wan Kenobi \| E1474 Today, we dive into Sheryl Sandberg leaving Meta (2:14), then Lon Harris joins for This Week in Streaming where we cover Kenobi episodes 1-3 (12:36). We talk about Disney’s response to racism (26:54), where the Star Wars sequels went wrong ...
06.02.2022 ESG fraud, Stripe & Reddit markdowns, Remote productivity + DroneUp Founder Tom Walker \| E1473 First, we talk about Deutsche Bank getting raided by law enforcement for “greenwashing” its ESG funds (2:59), then we touch on Fidelity marking down its investments in Stripe and Reddit (17:00), then we discuss companies going back to the office ...
06.01.2022 NYT’s Glossier hit piece, VC winters, Activist CEOs and Podcast live events with Acquired’s David Rosenthal \| E1472 Today, Acquired’s David Rosenthal joins us. We discuss their recent Climate Pledge Arena Show (1:37), the new fundraising environment, and what the best founders and VC firms are doing (21:29), and we dig into the New York Times' latest hit ...
05.27.2022 Bolt layoffs, DroneUp, Lunar Outpost, $4.5B crypto fund, Ape theft + Diagram’s Jordan Singer \| E1471 In today's episode, Jason and Molly cover Bolt's layoffs (12:11), Walmart's drone deliveries (17:02), Lunar Outpost's $12M seed (32:31), a16z's $4.5B crypto raise (44:07), and Seth Green's Bored Ape heist (54:40). Producer Rachel sits down with Jordan Singer, founder of ...
05.27.2022 The cost of CEOs ignoring mental health with Bonobos Founder Andy Dunn \| E1470 Today's episode is a Molly solo interview with Bonobos founder and author of "Burn Rate," Andy Dunn (2:30). We go deep on entrepreneurship and mental health, talk about how founders are up to 7x more likely to suffer from bipolar ...
05.26.2022 Solving our biggest problems, Cerebral’s fast & loose telehealth prescriptions, Jack leaves Twitter Board \| E1469 We discuss the tragedy at a Texas elementary school and gun violence in America (2:25). Can tech play a role in decreasing child deaths (21:14)? Then we cover mental health startup Cerebral getting probed by the DOJ (52:55). Finally, we ...
05.24.2022 Snap drops 40%, Layoffs at Gorillas & Klarna, Adam Neumann’s new startup, Coinbase using Principles \| E1468 First, we break down SNAP dropping over 40% after lowering earnings estimates (4:43). Then we cover some layoffs at instant-delivery startup Gorillas AND BNPL player Klarna (29:18). Next, we talk about Adam and Rebekah Neumann co-founding a tokenized crypto carbon ...
05.23.2022 All-In Summit recap, Argo debuts AV test cars in Miami/ATX, $AMZN to sublease 10M+ square feet \| E1467 Molly and Jason are BACK from Miami to break down all the most interesting stories and content from the All-In Summit! (2:13) Then, they cover Argo AI, an AV company that just launched autonomous test cars in Miami and Austin ...
05.22.2022 Proof of Impact CEO Fleur Heyns on meaningful metrics for measuring environmental impact (This Week in Climate Startups) \| E1466 In this episode of This Week in Climate Startups, Molly sits down with Fleur Heyns of Proof of Impact about how to measure, verify, and analyze ESG & impact data. We discuss the current pain points for investors (11:20), how ...
05.21.2022 Privateer Space CEO Alex Fielding: cleaning up space junk with Steve Wozniak + Behind the scenes of working for Jason \| E1465 First, Jason and Molly reflect on their time in previous tech recessions (03:06). Then, Privateer Space CEO Alex Fielding joins to discuss solving the space junk problem (18:02), the difficulties of mapping debris (33:25), and more. Then, Producer Rachel hosts ...
05.19.2022 Fixing a broken system – Mahmee CEO Melissa Hanna on patient-centric maternal care \| E1464 Molly Wood sits down with Melissa Hanna, CEO and Co-Founder of Mahmee, a care network for parents (01:44), they discuss the impetus for Melissa launching the company (12:34), the challenges of bringing the product to market (22:08), how she built ...
05.18.2022 Accelerating leadership – Chief Co-Founder & CEO Carolyn Childers on raising $100M Series B, building a women’s executive network and more \| E1463 Molly speaks with Carolyn Childers, CEO of Chief, a women’s professional network (01:26) about how their community stretches across digital and physical spaces, accelerating women's executive careers, growing with word-of-mouth as marketing (30:08), their $100M raise (33:22), augmenting Linkedin (39:18) ...
05.17.2022 Bitcoin payments on the Lightning Network with Strike’s Jack Mallers \| E1462 First we cover the news of Ex-Meta crypto chief David Marcus launching a Bitcoin payments startup backed by a16z & Paradigm (02:05). Then, Jack Mallers, the CEO of Strike joins (8:13) to discuss the lightning network & the history of ...
05.16.2022 SaaS multiple compression, downturn outlook & advice for new VCs with Jason Lemkin of SaaStr \| E1461 Jason and Molly chat with Jason Lemkin of SaaStr (01:44). They discuss: advice for new VCs (16:14), the future of SaaS investing (27:37), playing offense as investors (35:50), secondaries and more.
05.15.2022 Women in venture capital + SpringEats.com CEO Anukampa Freedom Gupta-Fonner (Climate) \| E1460 In VC Sunday School we discuss Pitchbook's data on women-led VC funds (03:16), how much money they've raised and how the industry is evolving. Then, Jason explains why new fund managers often have more success with individual LPs than institutional ...
05.14.2022 SBF buys 7.6% $HOOD stake, SoftBank’s $13B loss, Twitter exec layoffs & deal update + Nicole Ruiz from Compound VC \| E1459 First Jason and Molly cover FTX CEO SBF buying 7.6% of $HOOD (1:57), SoftBank’s $13B loss (8:29), Twitter’s exec layoffs (14:55) & give a deal update (21:50). Then Producer Rachel chats with Nicole Ruiz is an investor at Compound VC, ...
05.13.2022 Sundar Pichai, tech crash, crypto, journalism and more with CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa \| E1458 Deirdre Bosa from CNBC’s Tech Check joins to talk about a wide variety of topics (2:20), including her interview with Sundar Pichai, journalism (12:54), the crashing public markets, crypto (44:58), Twitter iterations (1:06:12) and so much more!
05.11.2022 Airbnb’s category search, Coinbase’s new disclosure + Facebook exits podcasting with Ashley Carman \| E1457 First Jason and Molly open by digging into some details for the All-In Summit (02:12). Then they discuss Airbnb's search options (08:13), Airbnb's new aircover insurance feature (21:34) and Coinbase's disclosure that account funds aren't safe in a Coinbase bankruptcy ...
05.11.2022 Terra UST stablecoin unpegged with Bennett Tomlin + High growth tech’s runway: $COIN, $SQ, $ZM, $TWLO, $SHOP & $PTON \| E1456 First, crypto reporter Bennett Tomlin joins to break down the the massive decline of algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (UST) and how the Terra-Luna ecosystem works (09:00). Then we recap five tech stocks that are down at least 70% off mid-COVID ...
05.09.2022 Dara sets the tone for Uber’s next push, Jason’s market prediction, Apple’s ML director departs, Internet affordability & more \| E1455 First, we discuss Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's company-wide email rallying Uber behind a cash-generating vision to court investors (6:30). Then, we cover Apple's machine learning director departing because of the company's work from home policies (43:22) and the White House's ...
05.08.2022 Side investing (VC School) + Stripe’s Nan Ransohoff: Frontier carbon removal \| 1454 Sunday double-header. First, Jason discusses why some VC firms allow side investing and others explicitly forbid it (01:50). Then, in a This Week in Climate Startups segment Molly interviews Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate at Stripe (12:27) about their $900M+ ...
05.06.2022 Twitter’s new Birdwatch moderation/annotation feature + OK Boomer: Flapjack’s Patrick McDonnell \| E1453 First Jason and Molly break down Twitter's new community annotation feature Birdwatch (1:40), they go through screenshots of the beta version and weigh the possibility for the Birdwatch to bridge the moderation gap. Then Producer Rachel interviews Patrick McDonnell of ...
05.06.2022 Stripe launches Plaid competitor, Cameo layoffs, Elon raises $7B + Streaming news with Lon Harris \| E1452 First we chat with Lon Harris from Inside Streaming about the latest Netflix news, strategy, exciting upcoming shows and the proliferation of ads on streaming services (2:23). Then we cover Plaid CEO insinuating that a Stripe PM probed their company ...
05.05.2022 Live Show Preview: Wednesday May 4 Every Monday - Thursday, Jason and Molly record live at https://youtube.com/thisweekin - it has bonus content that doesn't make it into the edited version of the show. This is a sample of the LIVE version recorded today. If you like ...

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