logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2024
36m 9s

TWiST500 Spotlight: The must-know startu...

Jason Calacanis
About this episode

This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

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

NetSuite. The number one cloud financial system, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR, into one platform. Giving you one source of truth. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist

Sprig. The Product Experience platform that generates AI-powered opportunities to continuously improve your product at scale. Visit https://www.sprig.com/twist to book a demo and get a $75 gift card.

*

Todays show:

We reviewed the first 100 companies on the TWiST500 list, covering sectors from fintech to AI, robotics, and space. Dozens of must-know startups emerged. Today, Alex breaks down the categories seeing the most entrants and highlight some of our favorite picks.

*

Timestamps:

(0:00) Alex Wilhelm kicks off the show

(3:08) AI for Devs: Qodo & Poolside

(6:25) AI Infrastructure: CoreWeave

(8:43) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠

(10:15) Data for AI: Tollbit & Scale

(14:05) Robotics: Figure & Dusty Robotics

(17:51) NetSuite - Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist

(19:08) Fintech: Circle & Altruist

(22:37) Cybersecurity: Huntress & Wiz

(26:30) Crypto: Farcaster

(28:17) Other Standouts: Harvey AI, Kojo & Albedo Space

(30:04) Sprig - Visit https://www.sprig.com/twist to book a demo and get a $75 gift card.

(31:17) Angel University kicks off November 6th

*

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

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

*

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

*

Companies mentioned on the show:

https://www.qodo.ai

https://www.poolside.ai

https://www.coreweave.com

https://www.tollb.it

https://www.scale.com

https://www.figure.ai

https://www.dustyrobotics.com

https://www.circle.com

https://www.huntress.com

https://www.wiz.io

https://www.farcaster.xyz

*

Check out these TWiST episodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGtV_V54m30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZPO5oYUuQU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULEwo0VXlZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdkWFoFD50Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULEwo0VXlZQ

*

Follow Alex:

X: https://x.com/alex

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

*

Thank you to our partners:

(8:43) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist⁠

(17:51) NetSuite - Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist

(30:04) Sprig - Visit https://www.sprig.com/twist to book a demo and get a $75 gift card.

*

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

*

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

*

Follow TWiST:

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

*

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

Up next
Yesterday
SO MANY THINGS need to go right just so you can watch a TikTok! | E2215
<p>Register here to join Founder University Japan’s kickoff! 👉🏻 https://luma.com/cm0x90mkToday’s show: On TWiST, Alex is chatting with Neubird CEO Gou Rao about the intricate complexity of IT Ops, and the vast amount of layers and components that have to be delivered very quick ... Show More
1h 15m
Nov 24
Even great startups sometimes need to pivot (feat. Francisco Cornejo of Theo) | E2214
<p>Register here for Founder University Japan’s Kickoff 👉🏻 <a href="https://luma.com/cm0x90mk" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://luma.com/cm0x90mk</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Today’s show:</p><p>The team from Familify had released a well-reviewed storytelling app ... Show More
51m 48s
Nov 22
Jason predicts a “major M&A moment” in the next six months! | E2213
<p>Register here to join Founder University Japan’s kickoff: <a href="https://luma.com/cm0x90mk" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://luma.com/cm0x90mk</a></p><p><br></p><p>Today’s show:</p><p>Google and Meta had their cases dismissed (or received a slap on the w ... Show More
55m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 19
The AI Tool That Works Like 40 Employees (Saved 2000 Hours)
Want better results from your prompts? Get the Advanced Prompt Engineering guide: https://clickhubspot.com/wrm Episode 72: What if building an AI agent was as easy as texting a friend? Nathan Lands (https://x.com/NathanLands) sits down with repeat guest Flo Crivello (https://x.co ... Show More
34m 13s
Jun 2025
12 INSANE AI Agent Use Cases in Lindy AI (Live Demo)
Episode 64: What if you could hire an AI intern to handle your meetings, emails, CRM, and even negotiate refunds over the phone? Nathan Lands (https://x.com/NathanLands) is joined by Flo Crivello (https://x.com/Altimor), founder of Lindy AI, a leading AI agent platform in Silicon ... Show More
42m 4s
Mar 2025
Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder)
<p><strong>Anton Osika</strong> is the co-founder and CEO of Lovable, which is building what they call “the last piece of software”—an AI-powered tool that turns descriptions into working products without requiring any coding knowledge. Since launching three months ago, Lovable h ... Show More
1h 9m
Nov 12
The Hidden Industry Powering Every AI Company
The infrastructure behind AI is massive - learn to leverage it with our free guide to advanced prompt engineering: https://clickhubspot.com/fnw Episode 84: What’s the real infrastructure powering every mind-blowing AI app and model you see today—and are we heading for a “compute ... Show More
38m 58s
Mar 2025
Insiders React: AI Voices Get TOO Real + NVIDIA’s Earnings Drama, Microsoft’s Sneaky AI Move, Alexa’s Big Update
<p>Are you ready for AI that sounds indistinguishable from a human? The future is arriving faster than you might think.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, Chris and Yaniv dive into the latest developments in AI, from NVIDIA&#39;s blockbuster earnings to Amazon&#39;s new AI-powered ... Show More
50m 3s
Sep 12
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis on AI, Creativity, and a Golden Age of Science | All-In Summit
<p>(0:00) Introducing Sir Demis Hassabis, reflecting on his Nobel Prize win</p> <p>(2:39) What is Google DeepMind? How does it interact with Google and Alphabet?</p> <p>(4:01) Genie 3 world model</p> <p>(9:21) State of robotics models, form factors, and more</p> <p>(14:42) AI sci ... Show More
31m 48s
Sep 4
Is Google Now the AI Leader?
Google’s AI comeback is turning into something bigger. Today’s AI Daily Brief covers whether Google has taken the lead in the AI race, with multimodal breakthroughs, Gemini’s surge, and a huge antitrust win around Chrome. We also dig into Anthropic’s $13B raise at a stunning $183 ... Show More
29m 23s
Sep 13
The AI Office Tools That Actually Work
Not all AI office tools live up to the hype. Today we dig into new surveys, enterprise spending data, and an a16z analysis to uncover which AI tools actually perform in real-world workflows. From slides and spreadsheets to email, research, and meeting notes—we break down the tool ... Show More
26m 12s
Sep 19
AI Just Beat the World's Best Coders
AI just scored a historic win in the International Collegiate Programming Contest, with OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s DeepMind outperforming nearly every human team. The discussion focuses on whether this marks a real inflection point for AI, shifting from competition success to th ... Show More
25m 3s
Oct 2
When Will AI Make Scientific Discoveries?
Today’s AI Daily Brief asks when artificial intelligence will begin making real scientific discoveries. We look at Periodic Labs, which just raised more than $300 million to build AI scientists and autonomous labs for physics and chemistry, and Thinking Machines, which is creatin ... Show More
24m 25s