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Todays show:

Jason and Alex kick off episode 2000! They reflect on TWiST’s origins and early episodes (1:48), highlighting notable guests and memorable moments (22:31). They also share fan messages, and insights from cohosts (46:05), and wrap up celebrating standout moments (1:04:14).

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason and Alex kick off the show

(1:48) The origins and early days of TWiST

(9:50) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST

(11:03) Recollections of the first TWiST episodes

(20:53) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at https://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups

(22:31) Highlighting notable guests and memorable early episodes

(30:33) Brex. Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at https://www.brex.com/twist24

(32:02) More on standout guests and the TWiST studio evolution

(38:37) David Sacks makes his first appearance on TWiST

(46:05) Messages from TWiST fans and cohosts

(1:05:14) Celebrating standout moments and key highlights on the show

(1:28:02) A special message from the Launch team

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Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Mentioned on the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZX4fUYo6C0&list=PL24nOpPUQlbZcij2Jo-KNUpWFDSrrQKtH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bmpMX2qQ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP7B0oWTR3o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cdrCYrZIvI

https://youtu.be/wM0pVE_b1KU?si=NM1pK-pz9tUQFOqr&t=1366

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=550X5OZVk7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VOQnK7O2To

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1_z9oOdytA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM1DDVq3_vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYA_vdHSD8w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwhP7K3bFRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3seTmyRbcHU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANGHOQ2Cqtc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL2wWE27CUI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXEO3oJKINA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43MgbwQBDik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfJtIibCx78

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Follow Alex:

X: https://x.com/alex

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

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Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(9:50) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST

(20:53) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at https://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups

(30:33) Brex. Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at https://www.brex.com/twist24

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

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Follow TWiST:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916

This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

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Runway. Looking to up-level your financial planning Runway is the modern and intuitive way to model, plan, and align your business for everyone on your team. Sign up at https://runway.com/twist to get your first 3 months free.

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Todays show:

Jason and Kelly kick off the Founder University startup pitch competition (00:00), then we hear from Eric Gilbert-Williams on The Public Bored (4:32), Matt Schwed on Speed AI (11:38), and Joe Tannorella on PodEngine (15:50). Finally, Jason awards a $25K investment, and details how to apply!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason and Kelly kick off the show

(4:32) Eric Gilbert-Williams pitches The Public Bored

(10:24) Fidelity Private Shares℠ - Visit https://fidelityprivateshares.com! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.

(11:38) Matt Schwed pitches Speed AI

(15:50) Joe Tannorella pitches PodEngine

(23:33) Google Cloud - Accelerate your startup journey with the Google for Startups Cloud Program. Apply at https://startups.google.com/twist

(25:03) Ranking the three companies

(29:12) Founders' experiences and learning outcomes at Founder University

(31:47) Runway - Sign up at https://runway.com/twist to get your first 3 months free.

(33:18) Q&A

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Founder University: Apply here: ⁠https://www.founder.university⁠

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We are doing Founder Fridays meetups! Visit ⁠https://founderfridays.tech to learn more

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Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Follow Eric:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-gilbert-williams

Check out: https://www.publicbored.com

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Follow Matt:

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

Check out: https://getspeed.ai

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Follow Joe:

X: https://x.com/joetannorella

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

Check out: https://podengine.ai

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Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(10:24) Fidelity Private Shares℠ - Visit https://fidelityprivateshares.com! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.

(23:33) Google Cloud - Accelerate your startup journey with the Google for Startups Cloud Program. Apply at https://startups.google.com/twist

(31:47) Runway - Sign up at https://runway.com/twist to get your first 3 months free.

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

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Follow TWiST:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916

This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. TWiST listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at https://www.vanta.com/twist

.Tech Domains - Don’t miss our “Jam with JCal” contest! To apply and get more details go to https://jamwithjcal.tech brought to you by .tech domains.

OpenPhone. Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/twist

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Todays show:

Jason and Kelly kick off the Founder University startup pitch competition (00:00). We hear from Pablo on Big Rentals (4:18), Brittany on Where2Wheel (12:28), Ardalan on MyLens (21:31), and Mariano on Prosperous AI (29:07). Finally, Jason awards a $25K investment (38:34), and details how to apply!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason and Kelly kick off the show

(4:18) Pablo Fernandez pitches Big Rentals

(11:37) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist⁠

(12:28) Brittany Peregoff pitches Where2Wheel

(20:10) .Tech Domains - Apply for the Jam Session with JCal contest today at https://jamwithjcal.tech

(21:31) Ardalan Mirshani pitches MyLens

(29:07) Mariano Apodaca pitches Prosperous AI

(35:07) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist

(36:33) Review of the four startups

(40:44) Q&A

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Founder University: Apply here: ⁠https://www.founder.university⁠

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We are doing Founder Fridays meetups! Visit ⁠https://founderfridays.tech to learn more

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Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/

Check out the TWIST500: https://twist500.com

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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Follow Pablo:

X: https://x.com/directedbypablo

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

Check out: https://BigRentals.com

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Follow Brittany:

X: https://x.com/bperegoff

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-peregoff-2134092b

Check out: https://where2wheel.com

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Follow Ardalan:

X: https://x.com/ardalanmirshani

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

Check out: https://mylens.ai

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Follow Mariano:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariano-apodaca-45b07a16a

Check out: https://prosperousprocess.ai

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Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(11:37) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist⁠

(20:10) .Tech Domains - Apply for the Jam Session with JCal contest today at https://jamwithjcal.tech

(35:07) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist

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

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Follow TWiST:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916

This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

Gusto is easy online payroll, benefits, and HR built for modern small businesses. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://www.gusto.com/twist

*Gusto pricing shown in ad is based on pricing prior to March 2025

LinkedIn Jobs. A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/twist to post your first job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

Northwest Registered Agent. Visit - http://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist⁠ to get a 60% discount on your next LLC.

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason joins seven strong startup pitches from LAUNCH Accelerator.(1:11) Jacqui kicks off the demo day.(1:40) Introductions to the guest jugdes.(4:40) Justin pitches Melengo(10:18) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://www.gusto.com/twist

(11:32) Edward ptiches PodcastAI(18:09) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist(19:04) Daniel pitches Tolt(24:55) Rae pitches River(27:49) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at - http://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist⁠(34:01) Kash pitches TaxGPT(40:56) George pitches Fanfare(46:31) Jam pitches Monic.ai(52:05) Our panel of judges pick their top three pitches.

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Apply to the LAUNCH Accelerator here: https://launchaccelerator.co/

Just getting started? Apply to Founder.University

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Follow these founders and their companies:

Justin Kwong & Melengo

https://www.melengo.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinckwong/

justin@melengo.com

Edward Brawer & PodcastAI

https://podcastai.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardbrawer/

ebrawer@podcastai.com

Daniel Gjokaj & Tolt

https://tolt.io/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielgj/

daniel@tolt.io

Rae Lambert & River

https://app.getriver.io

https://www.linkedin.com/in/raechel-lambert/

rae@getriver.io

Kashif Ali & TaxGPT

https://www.taxgpt.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chkashifali/

kash@taxgpt.com

George Lam & Fanfarehttps://fanfare.app/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgewlam/

george@fanfare.app  Jam Mirzakhalov & Monic.ai

http://monic.ai/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirzakhalov/

mirzakhalov@monic.ai

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Thank you to our judges:

Ben Narasin - Tenacity Venture Capital

https://twitter.com/bnarasin

Blaine Davis - Outlander

https://twitter.com/blainerdavis

Minnie Ingersoll - TenOneTen

https://twitter.com/himinnie

Nicole Seah - Costanoa

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-seah1/

Stella Zhang - Conductive Ventures

https://www.linkedin.com/in/xinxin-stella-zhang/

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Follow Jason:

X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(10:18) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://www.gusto.com/twist

*Gusto pricing shown in ad is based on pricing prior to March 2025

(18:09) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist

(27:49) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at - http://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist⁠

*

Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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

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Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

NEA's Ben Narasin takes questions from founders: most important content in a pitch deck, COVID's impact on dealmaking, traits he looks for in founders & more!
Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi
Follow Ben: https://twitter.com/bnarasin
1:13 Paul: Has the current crisis changed your investment thesis? If so, how?
2:40 Ash/Christopher: How to overcome the money raised vs revenue generated in enterprise SaaS that requires heavy product work to reach product-market fit?
4:13 Emberlynn/Srinivas: What is the most important content in a pitch deck?
7:26 Guilherme: What will the VC funding landscape look like after the crisis passes?
8:37 Mary: What is the best way to present a newly launched startup that has been severely impacted by COVID-19 to investors?
10:48 Daniel: What advice would you offer college students passionate about venture capital so that they can also become investors?
12:22 Mark: What immediate skepticism do you have when you look at early-stage startups?
15:54 Len: What factor(s) would most set an early-stage (i.e. seed funding, launch-ready, pre-revenue) company apart from others seeking similar funding?
18:15 Aneesh: My startup sells multiple SaaS products for restaurant digitization. We don’t have the bandwidth to handle sales and marketing of all products at once. What should be our strategy to prioritize?
19:49 Linards: At what level of product traction will investors start to be interested? How does it differ across verticals?
22:40 Avidan: What role (if any) will equity crowdfunding play in the venture capital ecosystem at large?
23:43 Adam: What are you seeing related to startup valuations and VC terms post-COVID?
25:18 Emin: What kind of marketplaces would you like to see in the next 5 years?
26:34 Tammy: Do you think people will need a college degree for the jobs of the future?
28:48 Ellie: Post-WeWork, how should a tech startup with profit margins on the smaller side think about building a scalable and ultimately profitable business model?
30:15 Wei: What sectors are you investing in? What are you most excited about nowadays?
31:40 Ope: What skill sets do you need to move into VC from a non-Investment Banking background?
33:09 Suruchi/Mireille: In a medium article you wrote you wrote: "winter is here, severely ....don't obsess about the downside, think about the opportunities.” What opportunities have arisen so far? What changes are permanent and what changes are temporary?
35:20 Nghia: What are some books that you recommend today?
39:30 Ben: Are there areas that are non-investable at the moment whether it be overcrowded, overpriced, or the prospects aren’t great due to COVID?
40:24 Charles: Do you have any instances where a founder's positive or negative traits/signals have influenced a deal decision? On reflection, has instinct proved a better indicator than hard numbers?
43:42 Dave: What was your biggest exit/best investment? How did you source the deal? Alternatively, could you tell your worst anti-portfolio story (most successful company you passed on)?
44:46 Barry: What are some interesting healthcare startups or spaces that you have a favorable outlook for?
45:51 Raman: What’s your take on the future of learning?

1:03 Jason intros Garry Tan and checks in on how his quarantine has been going
4:39 How does Garry look at Initialized's portfolio companies? What are his 3 groups of companies dealing with COVID?
8:04 How will VCs react to the crisis? Why does Initialized specifically focus on Seed-stage companies?
11:13 How does Initialized contact downstream investors about their companies, and how has that changed during COVID?
14:12 Thoughts on Posterous, data-storage singularity & more
18:04 Losing thousands of photos after getting banned from Flickr and how that plays into software as the new government, becoming a super-router
22:32 How Spotify's access to public capital gives them an acquisition advantage, collab concepts
24:51 How does Initialized size their follow-on investments?
29:11 For how long is Initialized planning on operating fully remote? Thoughts on going back to work
35:56 What skills has Garry had to improve during his investing career?
43:33 How downstream investors try and take advantage of early-stage investors
47:51 Thoughts on Clubhouse investment, how/if they can scale their exclusivity
56:27 Thoughts on founders selling secondary shares, and how Chris Sacca helped Garry Tan at Posterous
1:02:09 Structural inequality leading to rich-bashing, how Fiat currency impacts welfare inequality
1:07:09 Thoughts on UBI, Instacart, potential profitability of food-delivery companies
1:11:31 Perception of Tech in the Bay Area, commercial real-estate in SF, Facebook's game-theory remote pay scale
1:18:27 Could today's tech giants (Google, Facebook, Uber) have grown to the heights they did as fully remote companies? Can IPO-level companies be consistently built while remote?
1:24:49 Do the best founders appear ageless? New Twitter features: good or bad?

0:43 Jason intros TechStars CEO David Brown
4:47 TechStars leading the virtual accelerator trend
10:21 Will TechStars go with a hybrid model going forward and what key points should remote accelerators focus on?
15:27 How did TechStars settle on the number of 10 companies per cohort?
17:28 What has TechStars seen across their portfolio since COVID started?
21:21 Sustained changes vs. temporary changes due to COVID, will COVID lead to more entrepreneurs?
31:58 How to explain edge-case funding scenarios to founders who have real businesses that are having troubling raising capital, taking a long-term view on accelerator engagement, why B2B is easier than B2C
36:22 Why angels invest in one company over the other? Do metrics matter as much as personal relationships? What are ideal founder characteristics that David looks for?
40:25 How TechStars selects mentors by surveying their mentees, comparison against Y Combinator
51:45 Opportunity for going global, David's relationship with Co-Founder David Cohen
1:00:30 Would TechStars ever go public?

Slice CEO Ilir Sela answers questions from founders: tips on selling into scattered markets (like Mom & Pop shops), COVID's impact on the restaurant industry, scaling Slice's $43M Series C & more!

Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi

Check out Slice: https://slicelife.com/

Follow Ilir: https://twitter.com/IlirSela

1:05 Knyck: You mentioned Slice being a platform to provide the technology and buying power of scaled companies to small pizza businesses. Do you think that mom and pop stores in other industries like retail or services could use a similar platform, or is this type of structure specifically fitted for the economics of the pizza industry?

3:32 Michael: How do you see the restaurant industry changing in NYC post-COVID, and where do you see the growth opportunities to create a new type of offering?

5:17 Chris: I’m building a loyalty program startup for restaurants. We’re specifically targeting non-chain ethnic restaurants and customers who may have ethnic nostalgia for cultural foods. What do you think the opportunity looks like nationwide for this demographic? Are most restaurants using mainstream food ordering apps already, or is there a large segment of ethnic restaurants who are off-grid?

9:01 Graham: Mom & pops are such a scattered customer base. Can you shed some light on how you started to get momentum in the early days as a small business yourself? Did early customers have any trust issues with something as important as payment?

14:22 Laura: What is the biggest point of friction you have with adding new pizzerias to Slice? Do you experience many/any pizzerias that don't see the benefit of joining the Slice community? If so, how do you handle these?

18:50 Henry: Have you thought of doing the same for other ethnic food restaurants like Chinese, Indian, Thai etc. and what challenges do you foresee? What would be your approach to tackle?

22:04 Matt: With all the vacant retail that's about to become available, have you thought about helping pizza brands expand into ghost kitchens or helping existing pizzerias launch virtual brands (a la Chuck E Cheese)?

24:33 Ian/Andrew (similar questions): What is this funding round helping your business and platform do for the Pizza shops and their customers? How do you plan on scaling your $43M Series C? How have your plans changed since Slice has gone mostly remote?

31:10 Charles: Please expand on the apparent disparity in pricing across platforms/instore. How can food often be cheaper through a middleman? Our family often finds the most frictionless experience for our regular pizza place is to call in as it's often a single dish. How can this be simplified further? One push pizza?

37:58 Matt: Can you speak to "why pizza” and not Chinese food? At the end of the day, are you limiting yourself by picking one category?

40:32 Mahreen: Curious to know more about Slice's marketing. What marketing channels have been most effective for your platform (in acquiring both customers/new businesses)?

42:14 Ian: What response did you get from companies to sign up, was the take up easy? Or did you have to convince them in a specific sales pitch, how did you frame it?

43:51 Presh: You seem to have a curated following list on Twitter, curious to know your favorite accounts to follow that have impacted your business thinking.. top 5 accounts you recommend following?

45:31 Presh: Where does Slice need to be in order to see an IPO?

47:31 Ian: What are your plans to develop your branding and web/mobile app

0:51 Jason intros Zach Coelius & Sam Parr
2:28 Barstool Sports vs. Call Her Daddy
6:49 Penn National Gaming stock soaring, Dave Portnoy winning this controversy
13:17 SoftBank reports $17.7B annual loss, worst figures in 39-year history
17:19 Does SoftBank's involvement typically include a loss of focus for the founder?
21:43 TikTok’s parent co. Bytedance trades at a $140B valuation, poaches Disney’s former Head of Streaming as new CEO of TikTok
25:08 Was Kevin Mayer wrong to take this role? Are TikTok's recommendation algorithms the best in the world?
28:52 How do Chinese companies grow so rapidly?
32:06 Facebook launches Shops, is Zuck trying to kill e-commerce giants? Zach on his experience with Facebook slowly killing his business
40:06 How does Facebook's product organization work?
47:13 Jason on the future of social networks
49:56 Amazon potentially acquiring AMC Theatres, could this be an Amazon Prime upsell?
53:52 Everyone gives their best idea for Amazon's first move after buying AMC
59:59 Zach on his quarantine deal flow

Angel investor Jason Calacanis (Uber, Calm, Robinhood) interviews the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors and innovators. Get an insider’s look into venture capital, learn how to start and scale your own startup, and ride the cutting edge of technology in today's headlines and beyond.

0:35 Jason intros Capital Factory CEO & Founder Josh Baer
1:47 What is Capital Factory in its current iteration? How are they transitioning to remote? Loss of serendipity of random in-person connections
5:38 Josh takes Jason through the SXSW cancellation
10:29 Issues conceptualizing COVID's impact
15:35 Transitioning to rolling cohorts & optimizing their Slack community
21:36 Capital Factory's standard deal terms, why founders join, how returns are divvied up
27:30 Starting Capital Factory during the last economic downturn, how millennials will react to this crisis
30:45 Josh describes his 5 buckets of how companies are weathering the COVID storm
35:09 Remote work's effect on startup collaboration
41:01 COVID's effect on children, getting back to work
47:37 What investing mistakes has Josh made, and how has he learned from them?
56:00 What founder traits does Josh look for?
59:14 Moving to Austin, SXSW history

0:31 Jason intros today's news roundtable guests Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal
6:54 Clubhouse raises Series A from a16z at a $100M valuation pre-launch
11:12 How do $2M in secondary shares play into Clubhouse's situation?
14:08 How Clubhouse achieved "VC-Market Fit"
18:49 Was this investment worth it considering massive former outliers in the consumer social space (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat)? Or did a16z pay too high of a price?
26:08 Bull/bear cases for founders selling secondary shares pre-launch
33:29 What impact did raising $100M for Mahalo pre-launch have on Jason?
37:18 Joe Rogan to Spotify, guess the acquisition price & macro-impact on the podcast industry
46:09 How massive is this for Spotify's position in the podcast industry? Did Apple drop the ball?
51:28 Jason to Dara: Uber should buy Dominos
52:16 How much podcast market share will Spotify have in the coming years? Will this be viewed as the landmark deal?
57:03 Uber layoffs, potential GrubHub acquisition, does the food delivery business model work?
1:04:57 Why the on-demand food delivery industry has a product-market-price fit issue, should life-long bureaucrats impact capitalist policy?
1:12:03 Who emerges victorious from the food delivery dog fight?
1:15:28 How being too reliant on one revenue stream could kill many ad-based media publications
1:24:38 Facebook's GIPHY acquisition
1:25:55 Twitter thread by GIPHY crowdfunding investor who never received their return, why Syndicate/Crowdfunding leads need to stand up for their investors to downstream firms
THREAD: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1262574661239312384.html
1:37:20 How GIPHY's weak relationship with their DAUs led to little negotiating leverage
1:39:05 Predictions for Clubhouse's eventual business model

Hustle Fund Co-Founder & General Partner Elizabeth Yin answers 50 questions from founders!

Range CEO & Co-Founder Dan Pupius answers questions from founders: meeting & collaborating with Evan Williams, divvying up time while building a remote team, product development advice, benefits of co-founders & more

Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi

Check out Range: https://www.range.co/

Questions:

0:50 Laura: Interested in learning more about what made you want to build a company that focused on remote work? Do you personally find it challenging not to be in the same physical space as your team/the companies you work for?

2:46 Knyck: What advice would you give around developing and sticking to a product development roadmap as a first-time founder? What’s a good way to establish and calibrate sprint lengths when looking at various aspects of the build?

5:48 Henry: What are best practices around building a tight mission-driven culture when working remotely given people are not interacting face to face physically on a daily basis and focus may be impaired?

8:10 Kevin: Have you received any downstream investor interest since the start of mass quarantine across the US? Do investors see this as an opportunity?

8:57 Ciara: Can you share a little about where you want to be in 18-24 months with Range? How are you planning on scaling and what does your product roadmap look like?

10:51 Nick/Presh: How did you meet Evan Williams, what’s the story of you leaving Google for Medium, and what are some amazing insights/lessons you learned from working with him? What makes him stand out as a founder?

13:41 James: Really like the use of daily check-ins and achievement tracking within Range to keep people on track. How can we encourage these actions in important areas outside of work, where people aren't directly incentivized/forced to do so (fitness, eating, learning)?

15:52 Charles: What do you look for in a co-founder and what advice would you give to founders looking for one? Do they even need to? Also, Marmite, love it or hate it?

18:23 Lizette: What should self-funded startups be thinking about right now and 24-36 months out?

20:45 Sean: Any tips on joining a (small) tech team as a new leader? Especially fully remote?

23:24 Amanda: How did Google change in the 7 years you were there in terms of culture and product roadmap? What was it like when you joined and when you left?

25:41 Ian: How has being an Industrial designer and software developer given you insights for Range and remote working? Are you a leader or a co-founder, can you be both.

28:58 Ian: What are people expecting from a question about "culture", what are they expecting others to give them. For me, If you don't know what culture you want, you simply don't know what you want or where you are going.

32:20 Sanford: How do you split up your day starting a remote company? Do you have days when you do certain work?

34:36 Jason: What do we lose by being remote and how do we get it back if we stay remote?

37:25 Nick: You said you met Evan Williams at The Grove, what’s your go-to meal? (My favorite breakfast burrito in SF)

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Todays show:

Jordan Stein from Cresset Partners joins Jason to discuss the firms motivation for investing in venture capital (1:12), the state of venture tourism (12:45), the Power Law and risk-taking in VC (29:26), and much more!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Jordan Stein from Cresset Partners joins Jason

(1:12) Cresset Partners’ motivation for investing in venture capital

(11:24) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://linkedin.com/angelpod

(12:45) The state of venture tourism

(20:00) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/twist

(21:25) Cresset Partners’ co-invest program

(29:26) Jordan's perspective on the Power Law and risk-taking in VC

(34:43) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist

(35:47) How Cresset Partners evaluates established and emerging VC managers

(43:02) Jason's framework for distinguishing "Likely Winners" vs "Definitive Winners”

(43:45) Cresset Partners’ goal of democratizing wealth management and VC access

*

Check out Cresset Partners:

https://cressetpartners.com/

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Follow Jordan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-stein17

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Follow Jason:

X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠

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

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Thank you to our partners:

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(34:43) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist

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Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university

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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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0:42 Jason intros SOSV's Sean O'Sullivan
4:19 How is operating in China during COVID?
5:22 Origin of SOSV, thoughts on in-person accelerators over remote accelerators, why hardware/life-science accelerators need in-person cohorts
9:02 Sean describes SOSV's typical deal terms, unique follow-on strategy & cohort size
14:27 What stage company are SOSV accelerators looking for? Does it vary by industry?
17:58 Sean describes SOSV portfolio company Memphis Meats & how they utilize bioreactors to create cell-based meats
23:06 When will we see plant/cell-based meat being cheaper than the real thing?
29:25 Will the issue of food-availability will be solved in our lifetime?
33:16 Will modern food science revolutionize taste & what is the holy-grail food that will be produced?
42:15 What is being done in the ingredients space?
48:58 How is running an accelerator in China different than running one in the US?
53:39 Embracing hardware, thoughts on Hardware-as-a-Service
1:00:44 Micro-terraforming

0:36 Jason shares thoughts on his portfolio activity, getting back to work, leadership & more
4:20 Jason intros Slice Founder Ilir Sela
7:14 How has Slice been helping local pizzerias and front-line workers during the pandemic? https://sliceouthunger.org/pandemicpizza
9:12 What are the economics of an average privately-owned local pizzeria? How are the majority fairing during COVID-19?
13:24 What is Ilir building at Slice? What is their "reverse-franchise model" that helps local pizzerias compete with Dominos & other large chains?
15:32 What is the user-experience on Slice?
18:49 Who is Slice's average customer & how are their pizzerias handling the virus in 3 segments
29:10 Raising a $40M+ Series C during COVID pandemic & leaning on long-term relationships
32:49 Viral GrubHub invoice response - valid or overblown? Unit economics of delivery apps & how Slice's fees compare to GrubHub, DoorDash, UberEats & more
40:12 Huge delivery fees creating the need for two different menus (with higher prices on third-party platforms), how Dominos digitizing their order volume created maximum efficiency & allowed them to keep the same prices for over a decade
45:28 What is Ilir planning on doing with Slice's excess office space, how will the pandemic effect in-person work going forward?
50:10 Which groups of employees perform better under isolation? How is Slice helping employees deal with working remotely? How is New York responding to the crisis, and what will reopening look like (hybrid offices)?
1:06:53 Do business leaders have a responsibility to go through the testing process to understand how to help employees get tested efficiently?

0:56 Jason intros Keith Rabois and checks in on his quarantine, Zoom's heightened exhaustion factor & more
5:46 What will the lasting impact of COVID be on Silicon Valley & the startup funding landscape?
8:18 How the early 2000's dot-com bust paved way for a generation of new founders & why the PayPal mafia of outsiders thrived in chaos & became the establishment
14:23 What has happened to intellectual debate during COVID-19? What are first principle thinkers and why are they important to problem-solving?
20:53 Is domain expertise overrated?
22:39 Keith's on his pinned tweet about his perceived recipe for startup success
26:50 In which verticals did Keith find outliers using his low-NPS/fragmented/vertical solution strategy?
32:15 History on US relationship with China, has Trump been right on China threat, should US try and bring manufacturing back from China?
44:41 China's involvement with whistleblowers, benefits of litigation knowledge as a VC, world's reaction to China mishandling COVID info
50:40 Has Biden been soft on China? How will that play into the 2020 election?
1:00:51 Why is the stock market bouncing back so quickly with record-setting unemployment numbers? Will there be another correction?
1:03:59 What is Keith seeing across his portfolio? M&A opportunity for companies like Lyft?
1:09:34 Keith shares thoughts on the right time to go public
1:13:50 Impact of 20% unemployment on startups over the next year, mental impact of lockdown & social isolation
1:20:40 Keith's most positive outlook going forward

StartX & Nexus Events Founder Cameron Teitelman answers questions from founders: how universities with no entrepreneurial culture can mimic Stanford, building flexible & sustainable culture during COVID, scaling Nexus Events rapidly & more!
Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi
Mentioned during the AMA:
Cameron's new startup: https://mixer.nexusevents.io/login_mixer
Cameron's most recent TWiST appearance: https://youtu.be/zsNqOLs-NVI
Questions:
0:37 Cameron intros his AMA and describes his new company: Nexus Events https://mixer.nexusevents.io/login_mixer
1:31 Kevin: Are seed investors investing right now? What have StartX companies been seeing lately from early-stage investors?
2:55 James: How can universities with no entrepreneurial culture mimic the success of Stanford in creating an environment that encourages building and innovation?
4:29 James: How does the accelerator structure change for current students? What are some of the common pitfalls you have seen people make starting their company whilst finishing their degree?
7:18 Presh: Could you share more about your new startup? What are you building and why?
10:15 Ashley: How are you looking at accepting companies to StartX through the COVID lense? Which companies (in your portfolio or not) do you think are particularly well-positioned for the post COVID environment?
12:43 Jean: Regarding mentorship, in what areas do solo founders need the most help with?
14:41 Annette: Will Stanford affiliated applicants get priority over referral applicants? Would consumer startup applicants that are non-COVID related be considered during this time?
17:35 Henry: What are your thoughts in terms of building a flexible but sustainable culture?
19:26 Matt: Do you take a different approach with health tech portfolio companies and educate/manage/support them separately from the rest of the portfolio?
21:21 Laura: Given that companies don't give up equity, and there is no structured program, how do you cultivate high-level engagement with your founders/companies & mentors?
25:27 Luke: Can you talk about how the collaboration between StartX and the Stanford Hospital and Clinics works? How are the grants assessed and awarded?
26:14 Jacqui: Do you see the StartX Med COVID-19 Task Force as a new model to accelerate advances in biotech or to generate solutions for other critical global issues?
27:07 Heidi: How can other med schools around the country partner with you to develop satellite programs?
29:17 Dan: Do you have any war stories about running Nexus Events during COVID and what you’ve learned from it?

0:50 Jason opens the show with some thoughts on livelihood, getting back to work as a lose-lose situation and approaching the situation with kindness and empathy
5:47 Jason intros Hustle Fund's Elizabeth Yin and they discuss the process of raising Hustle Fund I and targeting first-time LPs
10:25 Why high net worth individuals would look to become venture LPs
14:26 What's the deal with Elizabeth & hippos? Where can you find Jason as his alter-ego "CyberSurfer"
15:49 What is Hustle Fund's portfolio strategy?
18:55 When do you know if you have a 100x outlier? Why roll prior angel investments into the fund?
24:15 Thinking of venture funds from a gambling perspective
28:24 What is Hustle Fund's approach to pro-rata as a smaller fund?
34:49 Founders ability to "game" investors increasing in last 5 years
37:47 How does Elizabeth decide to make the follow-on second bet in a company?
42:01 How does Elizabeth advise her startups to raise from downstream Seed/Series A investors, importance of positive unit economics
47:41 Challenges of fundraising in today's climate
50:34 Reasons for optimism/pessimism, lockdown creating a necessity for innovation
56:55 What will COVID's permanent ramifications be on startups?

All Turtles CEO Phil Libin answers questions from founders: should early-stage founders prioritize data or instincts, building global products, ML risks, thoughts on remote work

Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi

Mentioned during the AMA:

Phil's First appearance on TWiST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYdwNHCmJA

Phil presents his state machine that answers all growth questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjyhDOb_j1I

All Turtles Product Taxonomy podcast: https://www.all-turtles.com/podcast/episode-50-product-taxonomy-how-we-classify-product-pitches/

Questions:

1:03 Knyck: In your state machine model, how early should companies prioritize looking into resurrection, lines 5&9, of inactive users into low and high-value users?
2:36 David: Thoughts on Notion? I’ve been an Evernote user since ’08 but Notion seems to be winning over some Evernote fans.
3:11 Tom: 1) As CEO, what brings you the most joy as a CEO, any examples? 2) As a Software Engineer, what was one of the most difficult things you had to overcome?
3) What’s one thing early founders don’t think is as important as it really is? (Besides culture)
9:54 Graham: During the early days (pre-product market fit), do you think that more metrics are always better for founders, or would you recommend focusing on those north star metrics that can keep founders focused on the most important business levers?
12:32 Craig: How have any setbacks or failures in the past changed the way you approached problems or roadblocks. What changes will you make after COVID?
17:04 Andrii: How would you compare Notion vs Roam research vs Evernote? What are some strong and weak features of each platform?
18:26 Jeff: Have you completed your goal yet of 1 pull up?
19:36 Sina: As you said: “Many companies focus on just one market and build up from there” but you guys invest in a global presence early on in the process and tried to have users from the Asia Pacific regions from the early days. How did you guys manage to do that? Was it only marketing campaigns or did you guys have strategic partners in that region?
23:31 Tatiana: Do you consider in this matter taking some mentoring as a real addressed help? If so, I would like to take this opportunity to apply for your mentoring, if possible. What will be the best way to contact you and introduce myself?
24:39 Luke: Which products being developed at All Turtles are you most excited about?
27:59 Presh: What’s your framework for deciding which products/problems you’d like to focus on/solve at All Turtles?
30:47 Catharine: Aside from changing how you eat, what are the other two things you’ve done that have transformed your life?
32:53 Jason: Can you talk about your massive weight loss and how that did/didn’t impact you as a founder/leader? Do you think you were perceived differently based on your weight as a founder/leader?
38:02 Alex: We’re building a real-time platform called answerable and we’re wondering at what critical tipping point a platform has enough data to really derive good insights?
40:49 Alex: What would you suggest for a very regulated company (SEC) where user testimonials + referrals are either straight up not allowed or require super fine inspection to avoid being sued?
42:12 Juan Juan: I remember your story when you were planning to close down Evernote then an Angel came to your rescue writing a check that gave you the runway to success. How did that happen and what were you feeling at that time?
44:04 Vitaly: How do you estimate tech risks while investing/building a ML product?
47:08 Tammy: Will remote work actually be permanent?
48:51 Vince: After scaling Evernote and then working as a VC, I’d assume you’d advise many companies not to go the VC funding route,

Hosted by Jason Calacanis & Michael Savino, Angel.University is a workshop for individuals interested in becoming professional angel investors.

The curriculum is designed for angels who have done 0 to 100 angel investments and focuses on five key topics: sourcing deals, evaluating startups, negotiating deals, portfolio and bankroll management, and post-deal efforts.

Register: https://www.angel.university/events

0:42 Jason intros MassChallenge CEO Siobhan Dullea
3:09 What is MassChallenge & how is it different from a typical accelerator?
5:48 How many startups do they accept across their different programs?
11:33 How does their prize money situation work? How are the winners selected?
19:05 How is MassChallenge sustainable as a non-profit
22:55 How is MassChallenge funded & how do they track portfolio success, what government & corporate sponsors looking for out of MC?
29:22 MC's top accelerator companies
32:24 What makes for a great application?
39:00 Why are East Coast investors obsessed with intellectual property? Why are they more conservative?
44:10 Thoughts on virtual accelerators?
47:20 Red flags when accepting companies?
50:08 What will change post-COVID-19?

0:01 Jason intros today's questions!
2:18 Kate asks what founders & investors often overlook while pitching/being pitched, and what they should focus more closely on
6:58 Daniel asks about Jason's next book
8:59 Avery asks for advice on performing customer research
14:27 Dan asks what common traits Jason sees in the best founders and tangible steps to gain these traits
19:55 Shahpar asks what kind of cold emails catch Jason's eyes
22:10 Amy asks for the top 5 books Jason would recommend to an aspiring founder
27:18 Andrew asks Jason how his deal flow has been impacted by COVID-19
30:27 Dharma asks about the importance of a startups name/domain name and any hacks getting a better domain name
34:54 Pedro asks how to improve customer retention when acquisition goes down
39:57 Ivan asks how Jason is "sizing up" founders without meeting them in person
42:10 Gerry asks whether to offer a freemium version of a product OR to offer the full product free for a limited window before looking to convert
46:51 Naiem asks whether to push new products searching for product-market fit OR focus on improving existing products

Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/transportationpodcast

Featuring Sandy Munro (CEO of Munro & Associates), Jason Calacanis (Angel investor, LAUNCH, Inside.com) and Johan Moreno (Inside.com).

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This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

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Todays show:

Rahul Sidhu from Aerodome joins Jason to discuss how his startup is creating the future of public safety air support with an automated drone system. The two dive into privacy concerns and abuse potential for police drones (14:41), challenges of fundraising and selling to the government (34:22), the founding incident of Aerodome (38:46), and much more!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Rahul Sidhu from Aerodome joins Jason

(3:44) How the Aerodome drone system works to respond to 911 calls

(13:17) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at http://www.openphone.com/twist

(14:41) Privacy concerns and abuse potential with police drone usage

(19:43) FAA regulations, geofencing, and obstacle avoidance for drones

(25:16) Pricing and business model

(28:08) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist

(29:00) Object tracking and combining technologies

(34:22) The challenges of fundraising and selling to government as a startup, but increased venture interest in public safety tech

(37:31) Imagine AI LIVE - Get 20% off tickets at http://imagineai.live/twist

(38:46) Starting Aerodome during the pandemic and protests in 2020. Finding a moderate voice through the All-In podcast

(45:57) The importance of intellectual honesty, steel-manning arguments, and not being married to a single solution as a leader

(47:46) Potential future capabilities and focus on de-escalation

*

Check out Aerodome:

https://www.aerodome.com

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Follow Rahul

X: https://twitter.com/rahoolsidoo

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

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Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(13:17) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at http://www.openphone.com/twist

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Check out the Launch Accelerator: https://launchaccelerator.co

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Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university

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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

0:56 Jason intros the show & talks about the impact the TWiST Slack has had on him
4:47 Jason intros Dan Pupius of Range
6:13 What is Range and why is it asynchronous & who types of companies is it made for?
10:48 What is the core feature of Range?
15:19 Dan's time at Google, working on Google+ & Google Buzz
21:16 Competing against Facebook's product velocity
24:28 Why did Google+ fail?
29:22 How adoption patterns & network effects played into Google+ not taking off like Facebook
36:57 How to use team communication tools & not come off as overbearing, dealing with unmotivated employees & creating environments that increase motivation
45:02 Burning Man, CyberPunk & more
47:47 Dan shares best practices on building culture as a remote team
52:15 Importance of maintaining "psychological safety" to optimize performance, holding colleagues accountable during high-pressure situations
58:37 Dan's experience developing Holacracy at Medium with Evan Williams
1:06:18 How experience & milestones affect leadership
1:09:21 Potential of "hybrid" remote/in-person offices after going back to work

freeCodeCamp Founder Quincy Larson answers questions from his exclusive AMA only on This Week in Startups' Slack!

If you’d like to participate in exclusive AMAs, jam sessions, and discuss all aspects of startup life with Jason and our community of 20,000+ founders, join us at: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi

Watch Quincy on E1049: https://youtu.be/OgxTDl2Z9II

Follow Quincy: https://twitter.com/ossia

Check out freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/

Thanks to Klaviyo, Fiverr and Mint Mobile for keeping this AMA ad free!

Questions:

0:33 Emin asks: What is the best tactic to build an award-winning dev team? Hire junior developers and incubate them or hire more senior people?

4:29 Rob asks: What does FCC moving to a project-based curriculum look like for someone with a moderate programming background, and where should they start approaching the freeCodeCamp curriculum?

5:41 Ilya asks: What are your thoughts on remote work for developers post COVID. What are the biggest challenges companies are facing? And how can candidates stand out in a remote job interview?

7:55 Swyx asks: What are your thoughts on SEO/building a media empire out of FCC? What about keeping FCC.org nonprofit, but making FreeCodeCamp’s YouTube and Content presence for profit?

11:06 Farjad asks: What is your advice on contributing to open-source projects like FCC and when it is appropriate/how to begin? Do I have to become an expert first? How can a beginner contribute?

13:27 James asks: Many online courses and MOOCS have high drop off rates and struggle to retain users. Have you found this with freeCodeCamp and, if so, what measures have you found work best to keep people learning?

16:40 Brady asks: What are the plans for future courses? Will there be other languages or frameworks included?

20:40 Cpulido asks: I am new to coding. I have a vision of what I want to build but I am wondering if I am being too ambitious. How do I effectively learn and build at the same time?

23:24 Jean asks: In an age of low-code and no-code, what are your thoughts on total beginners exploring a new career path today?

28:01 Luke asks: Which other founders/leaders and companies in the free code/online learning space do you think are also doing great work for the community?

30:14 Charles asks: Is there a place for those that are passionate but don't think they could ever be a great coder? Are the skills learned at FCC transferable or useful for gaining employment in another part of the tech/startup industry?

31:55 Jacqui asks: I'm curious about your experience teaching in China. What ages and subjects did you teach, and what are some differences you've seen between the education systems in the US and China and how do those differences play out into careers?

36:47 Heidi asks: As a nonprofit (public charity), what do you find is the most difficult part of soliciting donations? Is it easier to get corporations to buy into what you’re building/doing or 1:1/community to give donations?

1:00 Jason intros Power of Accelerators Episode 2!
3:07 Jason intros StartX Founder Cameron Teitelman: What is StartX, how do they invest, when and how was it started?
6:54 How does StartX exist? Are they profitable?
8:43 Why would a growth stage founder join StartX?
13:28 What is the process for selecting founders/companies for StartX? What is unique about Stanford students?
16:28 Difference between arrogance and confidence, StartX's "No A**hole" rule, Cohort size
20:47 What does StartX look for in founders, what questions are asked in interviews & what preferences do they have regarding co-founders
27:04 How do VCs look at StartX? What are their demo days like?
31:54 Thoughts on YC's demo day & how to run a demo day process
41:16 Cameron on hacking his way into VC, new StartX funds, thesis on successful founders & peer-support groups
45:58 Stories about getting cut out of a deal
48:09 What StartX's portfolio signaling tells them about successful founders, importance of time management
51:59 Steve Blank's theory of customer development, top portfolio companies

0:42 Jason intros PlayVS CEO & Founder Delane Parnell
2:59 What is PlayVS, how do they make money & how fast are they growing?
5:37 Attracting investors, leveraging an exclusive contract to scale across US high schools & average hours spent on the platform by players
13:26 Delane shares his backstory, from flipping shoes to owning cell phone stores in high school to getting tickets to the LAUNCH Festival in SF
26:38 How Delane turned LAUNCH Festival networking to deal flow & a job in venture capital
32:52 Meeting Peter Pham at SXSW, moving to LA to start PlayVS
38:16 Delane on his relationship with Michael Ovitz
40:20 PlayVS' go-to-market strategy & relationship with game publishers
45:51 PlayVS being co-ed & giving female gamers a safe environment to play in
51:08 Race in tech & Delane's advice on breaking into the industry as an outsider
55:57 Not taking any checks from firms who hadn't previously backed black founders
59:05 Does Darnell's intentionality about diversity create a talent advantage for PlayVS?
1:06:06 Relief of hiring high-level operators
1:11:41 LA restaurant scene discussion
1:13:39 Bird vs. Lime vs. Uber, pricing model discussion, thought on Travis Kalanick
1:23:10 Top 5 Tech entrepreneurs of all-time
1:33:40 What's going on at Airbnb?

2:42 — Electric vehicle startups receive PPP loansAs thousands of small business owners struggle to pay rent and keep their employees on staff, two high-profile electric vehicle startups have applied and received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from the Small Business Administration (SBA).

0:50 Jason thanks the front-line workers & intros freeCodeCamp's Quincy Larson
7:45 Why & how did Quincy start freeCodeCamp? What is freeCodeCamp?
12:16 Jason & Quincy discuss starting & running large online communities, benefits of Discord & Slack
15:36 Can you jump right in on freeCodeCamp.org? What types of certifications do they offer?
17:38 COVID-19's impact on user growth & why Quincy is emulating Red Cross, YMCA & other non-profits
21:19 Do they track outcomes at freeCodeCamp, how do they compare to Lambda School?
26:05 Can anyone become a web developer? How many hours would it take for an average high school graduate to be able to build a 1.0 version of Twitter or Shopify?
35:09 Quincy shares some freeCodeCamp success stories
41:21 What's the quickest way to get a job through coding? What program should an aspirational developer start learning first?
45:57 Should new developers prioritize mobile development to maximize earning potential?
48:24 What % of freeCodeCamp users are non-US? Which country has shown the most potential?
50:44 What does the post-COVID world look like for developers?
53:21 freeCodeCamp's developer cards project

1:00 Jason thanks all frontline workers and intros Dreamit Ventures’ Steve Barsh
3:33 How did Dreamit start, what is the goal and how is their program structured?
9:43 How often does Dreamit follow-on with their portfolio companies, how do they think about pricing, valuation & leading rounds?
15:15 Steve goes over some of Dreamit’s top portfolio companies: SeatGeek, LevelUp & Houseparty and explains how SeatGeek pivoted while going through Dreamit’s program
18:20 How early will Dreamit Ventures go? Pre-revenue? What verticals do they focus on how do they improve their program?
27:24 What is the most important thing Dreamit does for founders: advice, anointing or money?
30:07 At what point during the process does Dreamit turn on the criticism? What questions do they ask during Accelerator interviews?
42:58 How much of Dreamit’s program focuses on the fundraising process?
48:59 Lightning round: How founders should judge accelerators, nailing interviews, multiple accelerators, follow-on philosophy, bridge rounds, top firms that Dreamit works with

0:01 Jason intros today's #AskJason and talks about the This Week in Startups Slack!
4:04 Ethan asks where and how Jason gets his news for general industry knowledge
6:43 Sean asks Jason how to acquire talent during a crisis
9:54 Vik asks Jason about building strong corporate culture while working remotely
15:44 David asks about SF mayor London Breed capping fees for delivery companies
19:32 Craig asks for Jason's perspective on investing in fully distributed startups
23:52 Mayur asks which audience do you sell to first when starting a marketplace
28:23 Stuart asks about how to price when launching - Free trials or charge right away?
33:05 Rob asks what investors think when they hear a CEO has 1 or 2 other side hustles
33:18 David asks about the importance of market timing - Will a great business always succeed, and how much of it is due to timing?
39:40 Onyx asks for Jason's take on the future of growing & scaling emerging natural food (or food tech) brands in this environment
41:21 Paulo asks how CEOs should act to motivate a remote team
48:08 Allen asks about syndicates that don’t contribute any money into a deal

0:37 Jason intro Alex Wilhelm & Sam Lessin & checks in on how their quarantines are going
5:59 Are they all working more during quarantine then they were beforehand?
9:58 Will we see a birthrate drop due to the crisis?
15:45 Having & raising children in the digital age/COVID crisis
18:24 How are Apple & Google helping with tracking COVID-19, and when do their efforts become a privacy risk?
27:29 For how long would big-tech need personal health data?
31:54 Differences between Facebook & Twitter, Twitter usage for Jason, Alex & Sam
37:41 What is Sam working on with Fin? How has he transitioned his team to remote?
39:47 Who will be impacted by the move away from luxurious big-tech campuses? Will it lead to a competitive disadvantage for companies that are hesitant?
56:19 Disconnect between optimistic public investors & pessimistic private investors
1:00:38 Why early-stage investors are most at-risk in the private market?
1:05:33 Misaligned metrics in VC, understanding massive unemployment numbers
1:11:26 Is government-backed healthcare good for capitalism & entrepreneurship?

0:51 Jason intro 15Five's David Hassell & checks in on how his company is doing
4:23 What does a great leader need to do in a crisis?
8:26 How to share information with your team about potential layoffs
10:27 What is 15Five? What have they set out to accomplish?
15:22 Tips on transitioning an in-person team to fully remote
22:24 Defining trust in terms of business & how 15Five keeps their employees engaged
32:16 How increasing trust has resulted in hardly any employee turnover at 15Five
35:13 How remote work is revealing
42:24 How are employees feeling about getting back into the office?
47:43 What will COVID-19 change?
57:09 What is David hopeful about?

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Todays show:

David Weisburd hosts Mark Suster, Samir Kaji, and Jason Calacanis to discuss the 2024 venture market (1:24), VCs selling secondaries (23:04), IPOS in 2024 (45:56), and much more!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) David Weisburd hosts Mark Suster, Samir Kaji,, and Jason Calacanis

(1:24) Thoughts on IVP raising $1.3 Billion for their 18th fund and different angles on the current fundraising market

(14:28) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/twist

(15:53) Mark's strategy today for DPI (Distributed to Paid-In Capital)

(23:04) VCs selling secondaries and best practices when disclosing selling after hitting targets

(28:00) MEV - Get $30,000 off your first three months at http://mev.com/twist

(29:21) Thoughts on strip sales, continuation funds, and exotic secondary vehicles. When should GPs pursue that strategy?

(40:56) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(45:56) F-Prime's 2024 State of Fintech Report, the IPO market in 2024, and early stage fintech

(54:47) Kleiner Perkins and how a firm reboots

(1:03:01) The apprenticeship model in Venture Capital, and mistakes GPs make when interacting with LPs

(1:17:44) Rapid-fire segment on top recent investments

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Mentioned on the show:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/ivps-new-fund-shows-growth-investors-are-ready-to-get-off-sidelineshttps://techcrunch.com/2024/02/03/mamoon-hamid-and-ilya-fushman-of-kleiner-perkins-more-than-80-of-pitches-now-involve-ai/

https://fprimecapital.com/blog/the-2024-state-of-fintech-report

https://www.bland.ai

https://kuberahealth.com

https://www.stonealgo.com

https://giggster.com

*

Follow Mark X: https://twitter.com/msuster

*

Follow Samir X: https://twitter.com/Samirkaji

*

Follow David:

X: ⁠https://twitter.com/DWeisburd⁠

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

Check out: ⁠https://10xcapital.com

*

Follow Jason:

X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(14:28) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at ⁠https://Squarespace.com/twist

(28:00) MEV - Get $30,000 off your first three months at ⁠http://mev.com/twist

(40:56) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

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Check out the Launch Accelerator: https://launchaccelerator.co

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Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university

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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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

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Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

0:01 Jason & Chamath catch us up on their quarantines
1:20 Chamath intros David Sacks
4:40 David explains what their poker group chat has been like since COVID-19 started, and how Jason, Chamath & himself fall on the optimistic/pessimistic spectrum
6:58 How have the past few months defined David's view on the world, and what is his reaction to the US government's response?
12:22 Did the US health apparatus do its job? How could it improve? Why aren't masks already mandated?
19:33 Culture clash between scientific experts & entrepreneurs, thoughts on Chloroquine as a treatment method
27:00 Are US bureaucrats taking the intelligence of US citizens for granted? How liable is Trump?

0:01 Jason previews today's Ask Jason & drops some hints about the Super Secret TWiST Slack room
2:29 Aaron asks how investors view no-code startups
6:33 Andrii asks if an economic crisis is a good time to start a company
9:52 Jesse asks if he should start trying to raise a round of funding now, or wait until this crisis passes
14:48 Juan asks how he can leverage his first committed angel investor to attract more
19:11 Marcel asks how he can use a "startup mentality" to effectively run his small private school
23:28 Matt asks how to bring on advisors and how he should compensate them
29:46 Mike asks what % of revenue a company should spend on brand & marketing
35:27 Peter asks how much diligence is appropriate for an Angel Investor writing small checks ($5K & under)
41:52 Talha asks what COVID's economic impact will be on Cloud Kitchens, UberEats, DoorDash, etc.
47:56 Ryan asks for Jason's thoughts on solving the unemployment issues due to COVID-19

0:01 Jason thanks the sponsors, guests, listeners & the team for Angel Season 4!
4:38 Jason intros Menlo Ventures' Shawn Carolan
7:26 Thoughts on the market's reaction to COVID-19, when will it get back to normal?
11:51 What advice is Shawn giving to his portfolio founders?
19:07 How has the job of a VC changed with the influx of hundreds of new funds, and what impact has the large amount of dry powder done to the industry? How has Shawn adjusted his approach in response to this?
26:07 Why paying a high price on valuation for dialed in startups (like Shawn did for Uber's Series B) is still a great bet
34:13 Shawn on passing in investing on Mahalo & Jason
36:20 What was it like having a "Force of Nature" portfolio founder like Travis Kalanick, who would destroy any obstacle in his path? What are some great founder attributes?
51:24 Shawn takes us through his Siri investment
57:55 Shawn takes us through his Roku investment
1:02:25 With the influx of Seed & Series A startups, how has Shawn adjusted how he meets founders?
1:05:00 Shawn takes us through his JUMP Bikes investment, are micro-mobility unit economics broken?
1:07:43 What will the outcomes of COVID-19 be in the startup community?
1:28:05 Shawn asks Jason how to best utilize his domain expertise to create high-quality content for Menlo Ventures

0:54 Jason intros Roy Bahat & Zach Coelius, and they discuss their current quarantine situations
6:04 What is the timeline looking like for going back to work? What needs to happen before we can get back to normal?
14:51 Has government & media failed the public? How is tech (both big tech & startups) helping during the crisis?
28:33 How should startups approach taking PPP, EIDL & other SMB loans? Should startups begin working more closely with the government?
37:14 When should companies plan on being able to raise capital again?
41:37 Why Jason believes the VC market will bounce back strong & how he is planning on deploying capital?
46:12 Are we going through a generational change & witnessing the creation of "Generation V"?
55:06 Jason's thoughts on what the crisis will actually change
1:04:36 What should permanently change after the crisis: government reliance, UBI, listening to experts
1:11:45 Notion's $50M raise & $2B valuation
1:15:29 Is Zoom trustworthy? Is any software trustworthy?
1:19:13 Luckin Coffee fabricates sales and loses $5B of value in 5 minutes

0:55 Jason intros Balaji Srinivasan and tees up his incident with Recode's piece: “No handshakes, please”: The tech industry is terrified of the coronavirus
4:28 Balaji shares his experience with the story and his issues with corporate journalism
15:16 Balaji explains why he reacted the way he did to Shirin Ghaffary's request for an interview
19:52 History of techlash: 1995-2020, when things turned from positivity to overwhelming negativity
26:26 Balaji brings up a sentiment analysis chart published by Recode
31:25 Did both sides of the political spectrum fail in their coverage of the virus? Is citizen journalism the answer?
39:40 Balaji envisions for a new kind of journalism
41:43 Are corporate journalists too like-minded in their approach because of not being representative of the demographics of the US?
48:16 What is modern journalism's biggest blind spot?
51:22 Tips on how to start decentralizing media
54:34 Are modern journalists uncomfortable with subjects playing an active role in the reporting of the story? Did Recode & other outlets fail their readers?
1:01:55 Will the US "let it rip" strategy of dealing with COVID prove catastrophic?
1:05:53 Endgame scenarios: Bull, Bear & Base
1:10:08 Should we be experimenting with "Challenge Trials"?
1:18:52 How culpable is China for the spread of COVID-19? Should wet markets be shut down for good?
1:23:39 Why is the US still behind on mass testing? More on endgame scenarios
1:31:03 Possibility of COVID-19 being a biological weapon?
1:36:27 What should we learn from this crisis? What societal changes will happen?

0:51 Jason gives some thoughts on quarantine & intros GGV's Jeff Richards
5:11 What will this crisis look like on the other side? Benefits of having a levelheaded approach
11:38 What has Jeff seen from his seasoned portfolio founders who went through the 2008 crisis?
16:21 What advice does Jeff give to first-time founders in his portfolio?
22:22 Investor panic & differences in opinion between independent & investor board members
25:50 What could inexperienced board advice be in a time like this?
30:45 What is GGV's typical check size, how many startups do they invest in per year, and how are their funds divvied up between early-stage & growth
33:26 Chances that current deals could be renegotiated? How can founders price themselves properly?
38:05 Jeff explains liquidation preferences
42:52 How should companies approach taking venture debt in a time like this? What is Jeff's criteria for taking venture debt?
51:11 If things are going poorly, what are some things founders can do to right the ship? Examples of great pivots that saved companies
57:58 What is Airbnb's roadmap from here on out?
1:02:12 Why Jeff doesn't get enamored with IPO valuations & why he is long tech
1:08:18 Thoughts on Zoom, anti-trust laws & more

0:52 Jason intros Eric Ries and they discuss how things have been since shelter-in-place started
8:33 What good will come out of this? Will UBI proponents like Andrew Yang be proven right?
10:12 Eric's advice to today's founders after living through the 2008 recession & the dot-com bust
15:53 Eric describes the obligations of leaders during a crisis of this magnitude, what the test-and-trace method is and how it's effective
25:02 Do authoritarian countries have an advantage in handling outbreaks better than democratic countries?
28:45 Jason & Eric reminisce about 2011 in startup-land
30:38 Tactical advice for Founders in an economic downturn
39:52 Eric explains what he is doing to help at: https://schoolclosures.org/
44:11 What is the Long-Term Stock Exchange?
48:57 Thoughts on private companies giving equity options to contractors
53:00 More tactical insights for founders: handling layoffs, figuring out new revenue opportunities, capitalizing on silver-linings, extending runway, etc.
1:01:01 Amazon & Lyft partnering to help each other, Bird's layoff approach, extending runway by trading cash for equity
1:12:21 Eric's thoughts on the future of capitalism

1:00 Jason intros Figma’s Dylan Field & Dylan explains why WebGL was crucial to Figma’s creation
7:09 Why ChromeOS is flourishing in schools
11:28 Who are Figma’s competitors & how do they compare
14:12 How does multiplayer mode work on Figma?
17:29 What does Figma charge, Dylan’s thoughts on charging for SaaS: bottom-up or top-down?
30:26 Is SaaS burnout real? Active-user pricing vs. Passive-user pricing & the importance of increasing pricing transparency
34:41 Becoming a Thiel Fellow, meeting Jason at Foo Camp, what happened between Mahalo & Google?
44:52 Jason goes deeper on what happened at Mahalo
46:33 Why Figma releases new features so quickly, the open-design theory & how it makes Figma anti-fragile
48:42 How is Figma handling COVID-19 on an internal & external basis
1:02:39 Figma’s funding history, why Index led the Seed, why Greylock initially passed & wound up investing
1:08:13 Why Kleiner Perkins invested & why Sequoia passed on the Series B & wound up investing, importance of getting to know your lead investors
1:11:05 How Dylan preps for & leads Figma’s board meetings
1:12:05 How working from home has given bosses better insights into who is actually making major impacts

0:52 Jason intros Greylock's Sarah Guo
3:37 How did Sarah wind up at Greylock?
5:45 Sarah explains Greylock's "Zero to One" thesis & typical term commitment of a VC
11:53 How does Sarah measure her personal performance and her portfolio's performance? What are her biggest strengths as an investor?
16:12 How does she sharpen her decision-making skills?
17:53 Ranking her investment criteria: People, Markets & Product
20:26 Balancing intensity & life outside of work, the commitment of early-stage startups
27:26 Work-life balance & how the venture landscape changed over time
35:36 Greylock's structured & what was Sarah's first investment & how did it play into her investment thesis?
43:38 Sarah's investments in work-enabling software
48:00 Sarah recommends Dylan Field of Figma join the show - episode dropping Friday!
49:22 Identifying subtle flashes of brilliance in early products
58:28 Female founders being held to a higher standard
1:02:35 Anti-portfolio: Zoom
1:10:06 Sarah turns off her virtual background and reveals her location

0:45 Jason intros Vincent Woo, who wrote "Lambda School's Misleading Promises" for New York Magazine
2:21 What drew Vincent to this story? What wrongdoings did he discover?
6:02 Vincent describes Lambda's ISAs and how they were sold
14:24 How Vincent approached Austen Allred as an investigative reporter & clip from Vincent's interview with Austen
16:19 What is Lambda's school actual placement rate? How does it compare with other coding bootcamps?
20:06 Getting Lambda's former Director of Student Placement on record to speak about the placement rates
23:43 Why ISA coding schools should exist
29:18 How Lambda's remote-only approach differentiates them & how opportunity cost plays into their issues
35:06 Where did Lambda School go wrong?
45:51 Does the business model work in broad strokes if opened up to everyone?
53:54 What does Lambda School need to do now?
58:21 Where is the blindspot in most entrepreneurs?
1:00:57 Vincent also writes about local political corruption in the Bay Area

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Todays show:

Alex Edelson of Slipstream Investors joins Jason to discuss fund of funds and their place in the venture ecosystem (1:28), ownership in relation to fund size (8:34), picking winners (25:08), generating liquidity for LPs (40:08), and much more!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Slipstream Investor’s Alex Edelson joins Jason

(1:28) Alex explains what a fund of funds is and why people choose to invest in fund of funds rather than invest directly

(8:34) Why early stage funds overperform and ownership in relation to fund size

(11:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://linkedin.com/angelpod

(13:09) What Alex looks for when picking venture funds, ownership, and why people invest in fund of funds cont.

(19:49) Evaluating ability to compete for deals at seed vs pre-seed stage

(23:55) Ketone-IQ - Get 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ at http://hvmn.com/TWIST

(25:08) Picking winners: Identifying promising companies early and tracking them

(39:01) Uizard - Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://uizard.io/twist

(40:08) Generating liquidity for LPs and picking emerging fund managers

(56:47) Competing for deals at the seed stage, the differentiation between pre-seed and seed, and deciding when to double-down

(1:01:41) Alex turns the tables and asks Jason some questions. But, first why is optimal fund size important?

*

Follow Alex X: https://twitter.com/asedelson Check out Slipstream Investors: https://www.slipstreaminvestors.com/

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Follow Jason:

X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠

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

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Thank you to our partners:

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(39:01) Uizard - Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://uizard.io/twist

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Check out the Launch Accelerator: https://launchaccelerator.co

*

Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university

*

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

*

Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

*

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

*

Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

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1:04 Jason intros Alex Wilhelm & Sarah Cannon
5:00 COVID-19: Where are we now?
10:12 Have would Obama have handled this situation? What are the proper next steps?
15:29 Sarah lays out her economic stimulus plan
20:29 How much has the political landscape changed over the last few months?
22:08 How would a stimulus plan work in practice?
24:36 What will change about the gig economy and healthcare coverage?
28:35 Will the average American citizen's perspective on the world change?
33:23 Alex shares his thoughts on the media's handling of COVID-19, and what Twitter's role has been during the crisis
45:09 Jason's theory on what we should do differently next time around, and it is applicable in America?
50:08 What is the endgame of COVID-19? How long will it last and how bad will it get?
1:00:42 Chances of civil unrest/chaos? Are testing incentives the best way to bend the curve?
1:10:14 Thoughts on WeWork/SoftBank news & why Sarah didn't invest
1:13:22 How Sarah is advising her portfolio companies during COVID-19, benefits of overcapitalization
1:18:42 Durability of SaaS revenue during a recession

0:01 Jason & Chamath intro David and check in on each other's quarantines
2:26 Has the US overreacted or underreacted so far? David & Chamath give their opinions on new directives & statistics
13:15 Thoughts on potential treatment options & policy changes
22:25 Chamath explains the circumstances of recording a podcast while the Stock Market tanks in real-time
25:03 Should the US adopt Chinese & South Korean quarantine strategies?
29:53 What do the current market conditions mean for startups & VC?
41:24 Chamath explains what is currently happening in the capital markets
45:05 How close is the US on being able to do mass-testing?
54:13 Thoughts on bailouts for companies that manipulated their earnings-per-share ratio by stock buybacks? Impact on the global economy
1:03:14 Impact on luxury goods? Should there be a monthly stipend for low-income citizens?
1:12:10 COVID-19 exposing holes in the US healthcare system
1:17:44 Should we ban wet markets globally?
1:24:12 Over/Under: when Americans will be allowed to go out to restaurants again
1:28:18 When will the weekly poker game resume?