logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2023
59m 43s

BREAKING: Altman fired from OpenAI, chao...

Jason Calacanis
About this episode

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 vanta.com/twistLemon.io. Get access to Lemon Hire, a platform with more than 80,000 pre-vetted engineers that you can interview within 48 hours. Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire today! The Equinix Startup program offers a hybrid infrastructure solution for startups, including up to $100K in credits and personalized consultations and guidance from the Equinix team. Go to https://equinixstartups.com to apply today.

Today’s show:

Sunny Madra joins Jason for an emergency podcast! They break down the business implications of Altman leaving OpenAI (1:23), speculation around why he was fired (10:27), ongoing developments like Greg Brockman quitting and more! (23:24)

*

Time stamps:

(0:00) Sunny Madra goes live with Jason for an emergency Pod! (1:23) Sam Altman ousted from OpenAI and Greg Brockman quits! (6:44) The board’s accusations against Sam Altman (10:27) Speculating “no conflict, no interest” (12:16) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist(13:22) Sam's extraordinary deal-making, lack of OpenAI shares, and the possible impact from Humane launch (23:24) The OpenAI and Microsoft relationship (29:40) Lemon.io - Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire (30:49) More speculation and anonymous theories (34:29) The impact of founder-led switching to not founder-led (37:10) Equinix - Join the Equinix Startup Program for up to $100K in credits and much more at https://equinixstartups.com (38:30) Questions from live audience (56:12) Final thoughts

*

Follow Sunny: https://twitter.com/sundeep

*

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 Jason:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason

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

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

*

Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

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

*

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

Up next
Today
Cloud Seeding, Conspiracies & the Texas Floods | BONUS EPISODE!
Today’s show:Cloud seeding startup Rainmaker faced a viral backlash after deadly floods in Texas—so @Jason hosted an emergency X Spaces with founder Augustus Doricko to unpack what really happened. Did Rainmaker cause the floods? How much water can cloud seeding actually produce? ... Show More
26m 4s
Jul 7
Exits Are Back, QSB Stock & The New America Party? | E2148
Today’s show:Startup exits are heating up with $67.7B in Q2 activity, QSBS just got a major expansion, and Robinhood is pushing boundaries with tokenized SPVs. In this episode, @Jason and @alex break down what it all means for founders and investors, plus the rise of Elon’s “Amer ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 2
Startup Valuations, Biotech’s Crunch & AI’s Massive TAM | E2147
Today’s show:It’s another blockbuster panel of insiders, as Alex sits down with Astasia Myers from Felicis, Matt Turck from First Mark Capital, and D.A. Wallach of Time BioVentures. AI is reshaping early-stage investing, with startups raising record-setting rounds adn chasing $10 ... Show More
1h 16m
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
Presidential Debate Reaction, Biden Hot Swap?, Tech unemployment, OpenAI considers for-profit & more
(0:00) Bestie intros! (1:54) Debate recap and analysis: Hot swap incoming? (16:53) Subverting democracy, power grab, Democratic party shakeup (36:43) Why tech job postings are down significantly from pre-COVID levels (42:43) OpenAI considering for-profit conversion (54:11) The pr ... Show More
1h 21m
Jun 2024
Lessons from a two-time unicorn builder, 50-time startup advisor, and 20-time company board member | Uri Levine (co-founder of Waze)
Uri Levine is the co-founder of Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, acquired by Google for over $1 billion. He’s also founded nine other companies, been on the board of 20 companies, and advised more than 50 companies. He’s most recently the auth ... Show More
1h 22m
May 2024
GPT-4o launches, Glue demo, Ohalo breakthrough, Druck's Argentina bet, did Google kill Perplexity?
(0:00) Bestie Intros: Recapping Phil Hellmuth's birthday weekend (7:38) OpenAI launches GPT-4o: better, faster, cheaper (29:40) Sacks demos Glue: How AI unlocked his Slack killer (40:12) Friedberg walks through his major breakthrough at Ohalo (1:01:35) Stanley Druckenmiller bets ... Show More
1h 41m
Jun 2024
#434 – Aravind Srinivas: Perplexity CEO on Future of AI, Search & the Internet
Arvind Srinivas is CEO of Perplexity, a company that aims to revolutionize how we humans find answers to questions on the Internet. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Cloaked: https://cloaked.com/lex and use code LexPod to get 25% off – ShipStation: https ... Show More
3h 11m
Jun 2024
#431 – Roman Yampolskiy: Dangers of Superintelligent AI
Roman Yampolskiy is an AI safety researcher and author of a new book titled AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Yahoo Finance: https://yahoofinance.com – MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lexpod to get 1 ... Show More
2h 22m
May 2024
JACOB LEVINRAD - Social Media & Ecommerce Marketing
Jacob Levinrad is an expert in Social Media conversions. He is a multi-millionaire high school dropout, helping others start their own online business while maintaining and growing his own.Join us for an exciting conversation with Jacob Levinrad as he shares his insights on how t ... Show More
52m 24s
May 2020
#96 – Stephen Schwarzman: Going Big in Business, Investing, and AI
Stephen Schwarzman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms with over 530 billion dollars of assets under management. He is one of the most successful business leaders in history, all from humble beginnings back in Philly. I recommend h ... Show More
1h 10m
Jun 2024
DOJ targets Nvidia, Meme stock comeback, Trump fundraiser in SF, Apple/OpenAI, Texas stock market
(0:00) Besties intros! (2:10) Responding to recent media coverage (17:58) DOJ/FTC strike deal to target Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft (32:40) Meme stocks are back: Keith Gill aka Roaring Kitty resurfaces, disclosing nine figure position in GameStop (58:36) Citadel and BlackRock b ... Show More
1h 25m
Jun 2024
Developing technical taste: A guide for next-gen engineers | Sam Schillace (Deputy CTO at Microsoft, creator of Google Docs)
Sam Schillace is the CVP and Deputy CTO at Microsoft. Before Microsoft, Sam held prominent engineering roles at Google and Box. He has also founded six startups, including Writely, which was acquired by Google and became Google Docs.–In today’s episode, we discuss: Sam’s advice f ... Show More
1h 5m
Jun 2024
Inside Canva: Coaches not managers, giving away your Legos, and running profitably | Cameron Adams (co-founder and CPO)
Cameron Adams is the co-founder and chief product officer of Canva. Canva is one of the world’s most valuable private software companies, used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. Since its launch in 2013, Canva has grown to over 150 million monthly users in more than 190 countries, ... Show More
1h 3m