This Week in Startups

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Today's show:

*Anthropic is likely headed for the largest IPO in history. A reported 2-3 trillion October debut would blow past SpaceX's recent record. Jason breaks down why the. numbers matter less than what they'll reveal about the entire AI economy.

Then, chats with a pair of founders: one who's selling subscription water filtration systems that will keep microplastics out of your brain (and other body parts), and another who's building the AI software that powers automated solar panel installation.

Guests

Sami Khoreibi: https://x.com/samikhoreibi

Wisewell: https://www.wisewell.com/

Puneet Puri: https://x.com/puneetp

Gritt Robotics: https://www.gritt.ai/

Relevant Links

Fortune: Anthropic reportedly plans $2T IPO in October: https://fortune.com/2026/08/13/anthropic-ipo-2-trillion-october-largest-ever-spacex/

Ramp AI Index: August update: https://ramp.com/data/ai-index-august-2026

Decart: https://decart.ai/

Bloomberg: Anthropic in talks to buy Decart: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-13/anthropic-said-in-talks-to-buy-ai-startup-decart-for-6-billion

Nat Geo: Profile of water sommelier Martin Riese: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/water-sommelier-martin-riese

Mailman School of Public Health: Nanoplastics study: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/bottled-water-can-contain-hundreds-thousands-nanoplastics

Bryan Johnson microplastics post: https://x.com/bryan_johnson/status/1937194358027190637?lang=en

Topo Chico: https://www.coca-cola.com/us/en/brands/topo-chico

San Pellegrino: https://www.sanpellegrino.com/

Acqua Panna: https://www.acquapanna.com/intl/

Evian: https://www.evian.com/

Mountain Valley Spring Water: https://mountainvalleyspring.com

Fiji Water: https://www.fijiwater.com/

TechCrunch: Gritt exits stealth: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/gritt-exits-stealth-with-34-million-for-robots-to-build-solar-plants-then-everything-else/

Our World in Data: Solar panel prices: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices

Our World in Data: Solar module prices vs. cumulative capacity: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices-vs-cumulative-capacity

NYT: Do your emojis make you look old? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/08/12/upshot/emoji-generations.html

DJI Mic 3: https://www.dji.com/mic-3

Ted Lasso S4 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk1KdTMhFs8

Lanterns trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4

Furious trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBSqPDxmNZs

The Shards trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpm9HUOrZIc

Sporked: What are Tim Tams? https://sporked.com/article/what-are-tim-tams/

Timestamps:

0:00 New Segment: "Enough Already!"

3:36 Anthropic's record-breaking IPO plans

9:59 Why it's "Springtime for Trump and M&A"

10:39 PayPal - Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all business. Visit https://paypalopen.com to get started

16:00 Sami Khoreibi of Wisewell joins

17:30 Hiring a water sommelier

20:23 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou

29:00 The problems with tap and bottled water

30:34 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

49:58 Puneet Puri of Gritt Robotics joins

54:35 Solar's version of "Moore's Law"

1:05:08 Are you using the Boomer emojis?

1:09:02 Why Jason loves the DJI Mic 3

1:11:36 Jason & Lon's streaming recommendations

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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These robots could cut delivery costs by 80% | Next Unicorns

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Today's show:

*Cytronic built a robotics-first fulfillment network, packing and shipping orders for cents instead of dollars, from small, city-adjacent micro-warehouses. Alex chats with CEO and co-founder Kevin Gibbon about how he can build a fulfillment warehouse for $1.2 million, and why it costs Amazon 50M-100M.

PLUS Eyebot delivers low-cost doctor-reviewed eyeglass prescriptions following 90-second vision tests, conducted in everyday kiosks. We asked CEO and co-founder Matthias Hofmann how he's trying to simplify vision care and caught up with his Walmart and Sam's Club pilot programs.

Guests

Kevin Gibbon on X: https://x.com/kevingibbon

Cytronic: https://cytronic.ai/

Matthias Hofmann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mchofmann/

Eyebot: https://www.eyebot.co/

Relevant Links

Axios: Cytronic seed round: ****https://www.axios.com/pro/supply-chain-deals/2026/07/15/robotic-fulfillment-cytronic-13m

Airhouse acquired by Syncware: https://www.airhouse.io/

Amazon News: 10 Years of Robotics: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/operations/10-years-of-amazon-robotics-how-robots-help-sort-packages-move-product-and-improve-safety

Serve Robotics: https://www.serverobotics.com/

Zipline: https://www.flyzipline.com

TechCrunch: Manna plots major US expansion: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/08/autonomous-drone-delivery-startup-manna-plots-major-u-s-expansion/

TechCrunch: Eyebot Series A round: https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/26/eyebot-gets-20m-series-a-to-boost-to-expand-eye-care-access/

CNET Eyebot coverage: https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/i-took-a-vision-test-in-90-seconds-with-a-robot-and-saw-the-future-of-vision-care/

Walmart & Sam's Club announcement: https://www.eyebot.co/resources/walmart-and-sams-club-pilot-fast-affordable-eyeglass-prescriptions-using-eyebots-technology/

Formlabs: https://formlabs.com/

Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses: https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/

Google Android XR AI announcement: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/android-xr-gemini-glasses-headsets/

World Health Organization: Blindness and vision impairment fact sheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment

Timestamps:

0:00 Kevin Gibbons of Cytronic joins the show

5:29 How small is a micro fulfillment center?

9:59 Squarespace - Turn your idea into a beautiful website! Go to https://www.squarespace.com/twist for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

11:33 Understanding the unit economics

20:24 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

22:29 Why fulfillment costs rise as you scale

29:46 Automatons Roll Out

30:12 Matthias Hofmann of Eyebot joins the show

30:31 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

31:29 Vision tests vs. eye exams

42:28 The terrifying doctor shortage

47:22 Fundraising and partnerships

57:07 Will we always need human doctors in the loop?

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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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Today's show:

*Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500 word essay about the future of AI, and Jason thinks it's his smartest PR move in years.

The thinkpiece, "The Future is for Everyone: The Path to a Positive AI Future," arrives alongside a new open-weight Meta model — Muse Glimmer — and the promise of an open-weight version of Muse Spark 1.2 to come. Zuckerberg's clearly pitching an "abundance" narrative, promising the American public untold benefits from AI technology — everything from a PhD-level tutor for every student to scientific breakthroughs, personal assistants, and beyond — all for the low low cost of not banning new data centers. Do our hosts think everyday voters will take this deal?

PLUS X retires its revenue sharing program, the CLARITY Act misses a key pre-recess vote, what can we do to stop widespread AI-powered community college cheating, and some of the podcasting positions for which LAUNCH is hiring.

Relevant Links

Meta: "The Future is for Everyone": https://about.fb.com/news/2026/08/the-future-is-for-everyone/

Meta: "Introducing Muse Glimmer": https://research.meta.ai/blog/introducing-muse-glimmer-open-agentic-model

MS Now: "Kevin O'Leary wants to atone for his data center sins": https://www.ms.now/news/kevin-oleary-wants-to-atone-for-his-data-center-sins

"The Social Reckoning" teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM4LkaXwGuY

X: Original Content Rewards Program: https://help.x.com/en/using-x/original-content-rewards

TechCrunch: Nikita Bier steps down as X's head of product: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/05/nikita-bier-steps-down-as-xs-head-of-product/

Congress.gov: H.R. 3633 - Digital Asset Market Clarity Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3633/text

Politico: "Crypto faces a setback in the Senate": https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/07/delays-imperil-senate-crypto-bill-01029817

NYT: "AI Agents are Taking Entire Online Courses for Cheating Students": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/us/ai-cheating-online-degrees.html

Inside Higher Ed: "Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used AI to Cheat": https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/learning-assessment/2026/07/08/brown-professor-suspects-most-his-class-used-ai-cheat

Podnews: Spotify's Skip Ahead ad skip test: https://podnews.net/article/spotify-threat-ad-skipping

Tommy Vietor X post on Spotify: https://x.com/TVietor08/status/2085073214968037428?s=20

JJ Smith SF "open drug market" video: https://x.com/war24182236/status/2086839186137710724

Timestamps:

0:00 Why Zuck thinks the future is open source

2:26 Meta's roadmap: personal assistants and beyond

9:21 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

20:22 Netsuite - For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to https://NetSuite.ai/TWIST

27:43 How to win the data center argument

29:32 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

39:24 X intros Original Content Rewards

51:58 The CLARITY Act faces new setbacks

1:00:46 AI agents are taking students' tests for them

1:09:37 LAUNCH is hiring!

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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Today's show:

A hedge fund just blew up shorting SaaS stocks. In turns out, the software companies that went all in on AI are bouncing back. Figma's CEO — still riding high on strong revenue — forfeited roughly $46 million in stock awards to ease investor nerves. Twilio posted its strongest quarter in years. Airbnb's CEO credits AI as the single biggest factor in the company's incredible turnaround.

Jason and Lon break down what's separating the winners this earnings season from the companies that are falling behind.

PLUS we're chatting with Bluecore Energy CEO and founder Kofi Asante about his plan to power ports, and one day AI data centers, with small, floating nuclear reactors.

AND we're kicking off the TWiST Weight Loss Challenge! Co-host Lon and Jason's brother, Jamie, are both starting GLP-1s. We'll track their progress and follow along as they attempt to collect $15,000 EACH in prize money.

Guest

Kofi Asante on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kofiasante1/

Bluecore Energy: https://www.bluecore.energy/

Jamie Calacanis on X: https://x.com/CalacanisJamie

Relevant Links

Bloomberg: Figma CEO forfeits $46M: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-05/figma-ceo-forfeits-46-million-in-stock-after-share-decline

Twilio announces second quarter 2026 results: https://investors.twilio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/twilio-announces-second-quarter-2026-results

TechCrunch: Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson buys The Onion: https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/26/area-man-twilio-co-founder-jeff-lawson-buys-the-onion

Chesky: Airbnb will spend a lot more on AI: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/07/chesky-airbnb-ai-earnings.html

"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unreasonable-Hospitality-Remarkable-Giving-People/dp/0593418573

The Times: Meet the unreasonable hospitality master who inspired "The Bear": https://www.thetimes.com/magazines/the-sunday-times-magazine/article/will-guidara-hospitality-the-bear-tkgzqz33w

Port of Long Beach partnership on nuclear-powered shipping: https://gcaptain.com/port-of-long-beach-marad-launch-first-u-s-partnership-on-nuclear-powered-shipping/

Reuters: ByteDance targets mega AI model: https://www.reuters.com/technology/bytedance-targets-mega-ai-model-nearing-anthropics-mythos-ft-reports-2026-08-07/

Axios: OpenAI says its AI agents breached its own systems before Hugging Face: https://www.axios.com/2026/08/06/openai-hugging-face-black-hat

Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House: https://franklloydwright.org/site/ennis-house/

Dwell: Why "The Studio" built a faux Frank Lloyd Wright HQ: https://www.dwell.com/article/the-studio-apple-tv-filming-locations-production-design-frank-lloyd-wright-john-lautner-97c68081

"Predators" documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibVZkvpAJjI

A24 "Primetime" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fHXyqQOKL8

Alex Honnold free solos Taipei 101: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/sport/alex-honnold-taipei-101-free-solo-netflix-intl-hnk

Harmonic.ai: https://harmonic.ai/

Ro.co: http://ro.co/twist

Timestamps:

0:00 Figma, Twilio & Airbnb earnings: who's winning at AI?

9:50 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

11:32 The real cost of stock-based compensation

17:38 Kofi Asante of Blue Core Energy joins the show

19:47 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

20:51 What is a small modular reactor (SMR)?

26:00 Floating nuclear reactors for ports and data centers

29:47 Lightfield - Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you — it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at https://lightfield.app

31:56 Nuclear waste, submarine risks, and public perception

42:41 The generational shift in how we think about nuclear

48:19 ByteDance is training a 10 trillion parameter model

53:47 When AI models plan heists: the Hugging Face caper

58:02 Jason's Roko weight loss competition

1:11:38 Off duty: To Catch a Predator, Alex Honnold, and comedy

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Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

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Today's show:

*Airtable just sold for $2.25 billion, an 81% drop from its peak of $11.7 billion. On this week's TWiST VC Roundtable, Aditya Agarwal (South Park Commons), Niko Bonatsos (Verdict Capital), and Rick Heitzmann (FirstMark Capital) break down why the venture world sees this as a good outcome, not a financial disaster.

By declining the deal, would Airtable's team have just been delaying the inevitable? Is the fact that they reached $400M+ ARR on its own a reason to celebrate? Find out why our investor panel prefers unwinding a stuck situation rather than chasing a growth rate that's no longer sustainable.

PLUS Robinhood's booming prediction market business, the secondary market flap over Anduril shares, why so many VCs shy away from "vice" categories, and a glimpse at how insiders are talking about the Apple-OpenAI lawsuit.

Guests

Aditya Agarwal on X: https://x.com/adityaag

South Park Commons: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

Niko Bonatsos on X: https://x.com/bonatsos

Verdict Capital: https://verdictcap.com/

Rick Heitzmann on X: https://x.com/rick

FirstMark Capital: https://firstmark.com/

Relevant Links

Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/

Bending Spoons announces Airtable acquisition: https://investors.bendingspoons.com/newsroom/bending-spoons-agrees-to-acquire-airtable

Constellation Software: The Anti-Conglomerate: https://www.eaglepointcap.com/blog/constellation-software-the-anti-conglomerate

Introducing Robinhood Ventures Fund II: https://robinhood.com/us/en/newsroom/introducing-rvii/

Quartz: Robinhood posted record quarterly revenue: https://qz.com/robinhood-record-revenue-prediction-markets-earnings-073026

Riot Games: https://www.riotgames.com/en

AngelList's USVC Fund: https://usvc.com/

Baseten: https://www.baseten.co/

OpenEvidence: https://www.openevidence.com/

Hermes Agent: https://hermes-agent.org/

Granola: https://www.granola.ai/

Timestamps:

0:00 VC intros & Bending Spoons buys Airtable

9:19 Why growth is the only metric that matters

9:45 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

20:52 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

26:25 When should VCs sell in secondary markets?

30:55 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

35:38 Robinhood's prediction markets are exploding

43:13 The USVC-Anduril secondary controversy

46:18 How VC firms use open source models

58:43 Telling the real founders from the grifters

1:02:38 Why Apple is suing OpenAI

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Follow Alex:

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LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm

Follow Jason:

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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Today's show:

*Before Bespoke's "travel concierge" chatbot could actually hold a conversation, founder/CEO Akemi Tsunagawa and her team quietly answered customers themselves. That "fake it till you make it" strategy paid off. Bespoke landed Narita Airport as a customer based on the strength of their "chatbot" answers, and now the team runs three companies, and is expanding into shipyard robots.

In the fourth and final edition of TWiST Tokyo for Summer '26, Jason and Akemi discuss her thesis: "solve the labor gap first, [then] build the tech to math." Plus insights into Japan's tourism boom, how founders should consider the country's accelerating population decline, the economics and politics of importing foreign labor, and why AI may already be taking over more jobs than you think.

Guest

Akemi Tsunagawa on X: https://x.com/AkemiTsunagawa

Bespoke: https://www.be-spoke.io/

Bebot: https://www.bebot.io

BeTrained: https://www.be-spoke.io/en/be-trained

Relevant Links

Disrupting Japan: "Silicon Valley Has Chatbots All Wrong": https://www.disruptingjapan.com/silicon-valley-has-chatbots-all-wrong-heres-how-they-really-make-money/

CNN on Japan's population decline: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/asia/japan-biggest-population-decline-record-intl-hnk

Paul Graham: "Do Things That Don't Scale": https://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html

Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/

TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/

KPMG on Japan's Business Manage Visa Reforms: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/gms-flash-alert/flash-alert-2025-195.html

Business Traveller on the "Akiya" renovation trend: https://www.businesstraveller.com/insights/features/japan-akiya-boom-buying-abandoned-homes/

THR on the 2004 satirical film "A Day Without a Mexican": https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/a-day-without-a-mexican-20-years-later-1236293209/

Founder University x Japan: https://tokyo.founder.university/

JETRO: https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/

Antler in Japan: https://www.antler.co/location/japan

Timestamps:

0:00 Founder U Japan Cohort 3: Coming in Jan 2027!

1:06 Introducing Akemi Tsunagawa, founder of Bespoke

3:08 Why investors passed in 2015

4:49 Selling Narita Airport on Bebot

6:29 The roots of Japan's tourism explosion

9:27 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

14:17 Japan's population decline, by the numbers

20:06 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST

21:38 Training foreign workers via smart glasses

27:50 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

33:06 Moving into shipyard robotics, too?

37:44 Some customer development lessons

48:21 Plans for even more expansion

52:52 Q&A: How AI changed hiring

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Today's show:

AI models can solve PhD-level math equations and code an app in minutes… So why does everything they design look like identical slop? Thais Castello Branco, founder of Taste Labs, raised $18.5M in seed funding to teach frontier models about aesthetics and outputting quality content. She talks to Jason and Lon about why even frontier models regress to the mean on subjective tasks, how paid "TasteMakers" can improve output quality, and whether AI accelerates or destroys the half-life of "what's cool."

PLUS Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI hedge fund liquidated its public stock portfolio, but it may be too soon to count this 25-year-old completely out. Google Earth adds AI generation and turns into a misinformation factory. LinkedIn and Substack join the AI slop crackdown. And why does every venture capitalist seem to have an opinion about the Ceuta border crisis?

Guest

Thais Castello Branco on X: https://x.com/thaiscbranco_

Taste Labs: https://tastelabs.com/

Amplify Partners: "Kill the Slop": https://www.amplifypartners.com/blog-posts/kill-the-slop-announcing-our-investment-in-taste

Relevant Links

Leopold Aschenbrenner's essay "Situational Awareness": https://situational-awareness.ai/

CNBC on SA fund collapse: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/31/leopold-aschenbrenner-situational-awareness-fund-fire-sale.html

Henk van Ess thread on Google Earth + Nano Banana: https://x.com/henkvaness/status/2082912544394498228

Substack CEO Chris Best: "Against Claudefishing": https://post.substack.com/p/against-claudefishing

NPR on the Ceuta crisis: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/g-s1-136507/morocco-spain-migration

Ethan Goodhart's self-driving golf cart post: https://x.com/EthanGoodhart/status/2082136189998682598?s=20

"Wind" app on TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/zZqmhhwf

TechCrunch: "Gritt exits stealth": https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/gritt-exits-stealth-with-34-million-for-robots-to-build-solar-plants-then-everything-else/

CA Gov: Project Nexus solar-covered canal announcement: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/29/governor-newsom-announces-the-completion-of-first-of-its-kind-solar-covered-canal-in-the-central-valley-piloting-a-new-way-to-save-water-and-reduce-costs/

Molly Wood's "Everybody in the Pool" podcast: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Coming up on today's show…

1:23 Thais Castello Branco on teaching models to have good taste

10:45 YSecurity - The on-demand security team for startups. Need enterprise-grade security without hiring a $400k CISO? YSecurity gives you 40+ expert engineers, matched to exactly what you need, by the hour, with your first six hours completely free. Go to https://YSecurity.io/TWIST

15:19 The "TasteMaker" community of paid human curators

20:37 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

24:40 Jason's personal "cool hunter" prompt

30:16 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

37:36 Situation Awareness lacked situational awareness

46:59 Claude models hacked three external organizations

50:54 Google Earth adds Nano Banana for some reason

54:24 The AI Slop crackdown spreads

57:54 Too many opinions about the Ceuta migrant crisis

1:04:05 Self-driving golf carts and also cars

1:09:53 Robot arms are installing solar panels

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Today's show:

The FCC's decision to ban Chinese humanoid robots over security concerns is a boon to American startups, which now face a narrower competitive market. But where should we draw the line on security over competition? Menlo Ventures' Deedy Das, Weisburd Pierce's David Weisburd, Plexo Capital's Lo Toney, and LAUNCH's Jason Calcanis broke down how they differentiate between legitimate security concerns and purported regulatory capture. Today's venture capital roundtable also dug into OpenRouter's possible sale to Stripe, changing tokenomics, the Indian market for startups, and even DoorDash's drone-delivery business taking flight.

Guest Links:

Deedy Das https://x.com/deedydas

Menloe Ventures https://menlovc.com/

Lo Toney https://x.com/lo_toney

Plexo Capital https://www.plexocap.com/

David Weisburd https://x.com/DWeisburd

Weisburd Pierce https://www.weisburdpierce.com/

Jason Calcanis https://x.com/Jason

LAUNCH https://launch.co/

Show Links:

The FCC's decision regarding Chinese robots https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adds-foreign-produced-power-inverters-and-robots-covered-list-0

Pacing the Frontier letter https://www.pacingthefrontier.com/

Cursor Start https://cursor.com/blog/cursor-start-india

Stripe may buy OpenRouter https://www.axios.com/2026/07/24/stripe-openrouter-merger-ai-currency

OpenRouter financials https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openrouter-financials-suggest-steep-price-possible-acquirer-stripe?rc=g3wfdp

Kimi K3 license https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3/blob/main/LICENSE

Pangram https://www.pangram.com/

Tau Robotics https://www.tau-robotics.com/

Zipline https://www.zipline.com/

Manna https://www.manna.aero/

Kindred Ventures https://kindredventures.com/

Autolane https://goautolane.com/

Salmon Labs https://salmonrun.ai/

Timestamps:

0:00 The FCC bans Chinese humanoid robots

2:18 Waymo, Uber, Robotaxi, and the global BYD threat

10:30 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

15:45 The "Pacing The Frontier" letter (1,100+ AI staffers warn on RSI)

19:51 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Get started for free at https://Odoo.com/twist

21:07 Regulatory capture vs. genuine concern

30:09 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

37:57 Have we reached AGI?

38:35 Stripe eyes OpenRouter at $10B

39:19 Does OpenRouter have a moat?

47:13 Kimi K3's license and neocloud margins

49:34 Claude Tag and the future of AI-mediated workplaces

53:26 Cursor Start, ChatGPT Go, and the India market

1:02:03 Have we solved AI detection?

1:11:20 Tau Robotics $30/hour robotic housecleaning

1:12:49 Job loss, and the social safety net

1:18:25 DoorDash Air takes on Zipline, Manna

1:21:00 Portfolio shout-outs

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Today's show:

*Most lab-grown meat companies have already gone under. It's expensive to produce, and there's little demand from real-world consumers. But Tokyo's IntegriCulture is still standing after selling their proprietary serum to cosmetics companies.

On Episode 3 of TWiST from Tokyo, Jason sits down with Dr. Yuki Hanyu, an Oxford-trained chemist who started a DIY meat movement out of a comic convention and turned it into Japan's first cell-cultured protein company.

PLUS why the cultivated meat market stalled out, why producing a "slurry of cells" is more efficient than jumping right to muscle tissue, the regulatory framework in Japan vs. the US, and… is it fair to call this "meat"? Or is it something else entirely?

Guest

Yuki Hanyu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-hanyu-b860bb34/

IntegriCulture: https://integriculture.com/en/

Relevant Links:

AG Funder News: "IntegriCulture turns a profit": https://agfundernews.com/cell-ag-picks-shovels-pioneer-integriculture-turns-a-profit-but-cautions-that-as-long-as-cell-ag-remains-so-capital-intensive-it-will-be-difficult-to-take-off

Vegconominst: Cultivated duck liver coverage: https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-meat/japans-integriculture-products-cultivated-duck-liver/

Cellament skin care ingredient: https://www.cellament.jp/cellament-en?lang=en

Medium: Shojinmeat Project: https://medium.com/shojin-meat

Cellular Agriculture Institute of the Commons (CAIC): https://cellagri.org/en/about-us

Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA): https://jaca.jp/en/

Upside Foods: https://upsidefoods.com/

Vow: https://www.eatvow.com/

Impossible Foods: https://impossiblefoods.com/

Fast Company: "Inside the stunning collapse of Believer Meats": https://www.fastcompany.com/91462102/believer-meats-stunning-collapse-600-million-cooling-cultured-meat-industry

AG Funder News: "FDA clears Wildtype's cell-cultivated salmon": https://agfundernews.com/fda-clears-wildtypes-cell-cultivated-salmon-for-us-debut

Food Navigator: Parima gets green light for cultivated duck: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/04/15/parima-gets-regulatory-approval-for-cultivated-foie-gras/

Protein Production: "Japan publishes first draft safety guidelines for cultivated meat…": https://www.proteinproductiontechnology.com/post/japan-publishes-first-draft-safety-guidelines-for-cultivated-meat-as-regulatory-debate-advances

Stateline: "Texas bans lab-grown meat": https://stateline.org/2025/06/30/texas-becomes-seventh-state-to-ban-lab-grown-meat/

TODAY: "Japan's Coca-Cola Plus has an unexpected ingredient": https://www.today.com/food/japan-s-coca-cola-plus-has-unexpected-ingredient-t121047

Timestamps:

0:00 Why founders should visit Japan

1:48 Intro of cultivated meat pioneer, Dr. Yuki Hanyu

3:19 Why don't consumers want lab-grown meat?

10:05 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io

10:26 DIY meat manuals at comic conventions

15:37 Flavors that don't exist in nature

19:35 The Wagyu Hot Dog

21:38 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai

24:23 Why chicken nuggets are the hardest problem

28:28 Beachhead markets, waypoints, and surviving early

30:25 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

35:57 Q&A: Commercializing an open source project

37:56 Q&A: Growing protein in space

40:07 Should this be called "meat"?

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Today's show:

*For three decades now, we've been told that breakthroughs in quantum computing are right around the corner. So why hasn't anything materialized?

On TWiST in Tokyo, Jason sits down with Yaqumo CEO Kazuhiro Nakashoji and discusses what needed to change (like better algorithms and hardware), and why we may finally be nearing quantum's big moment.

Find out why quantum machines are so error-prone, explore the unusual international quantum supply chain, and get a heads-up about the cryptography reckoning coming for your Bitcoin.

Guest

Kazuhiro Nakashoji on X: https://x.com/KNakashoji

Yaqumo Inc.: https://yaqumo.com/en/

Relevant Links

JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization): https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/

Institute for Molecular Science: https://www.ims.ac.jp/en/

Quantum Insider: Yaqumo Quantum Photonics Agreement: https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/06/04/yaqumo-nkt-photonics-and-hamamatsu-photonics-sign-quantum-photonics-agreement/

Quantonation investment announcement: https://quantumcomputingreport.com/quantonation-selects-neutral-atom-hardware-developer-yaqumo-for-first-japanese-investment/

NIST: What is Post-Quantum Cryptography? https://www.nist.gov/cybersecurity-and-privacy/what-post-quantum-cryptography

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro / Founder University Tokyo

2:20 Guest intro: Kazu of Yakumo

3:20 What is a qubit?

8:34 Why quantum computers are so fragile

8:45 PayPal - Built for payments, growth, and agentic. Paypal Open, built for all business. Visit https://paypalopen.com to get started

13:36 Spinning IP out of the university lab

18:42 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

28:01 Building the "Toyota of Quantum"

29:38 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

31:25 AI for quantum, and quantum for AI

38:35 Harvest Now, Decrypt Later

41:41 Q&A: Yaqumo's business model

43:22 Q&A: Yaqumo's business model

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