Today’s show: Jason, Lon & Alex are back with a spicy Monday episode of This Week in Startups. Jason goes off on unions vs capitalism, we dig into why fewer seed startups are making it to Series A, and look at OpenAI’s quiet copyright land grab. Plus: YC says Google should be broken up (then kind of walks it back), Perplexity’s wild $14B valuation, and Saudi Arabia wants its own national AI. We wrap with an Office Hours chat with Kevin Bondzio from Streamfog on the future of AR ads in livestreaming.
*
Timestamps:
(2:38) Why Jason’s obsessed with Reddit’s anti-work community
(10:30) Coda - Get started for free at https://coda.io/twist
(12:21) Seed Stage Graduation rates
(20:43) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist
(26:11) What’s going on with Tech M&A?
(30:04) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
(33:50) What’s going on with the Copyright Office?
(37:24) Licensing and competitive advantage in the AI era
(48:28) AI and the future of subscription-based content(56:42) StreamFog wants to change the way creators advertise
(1:14:13) Perplexity’s mega-valuation gets even mega-er
(1:19:13) How Saudi Arabia just became an AI startup
(1:22:05) Y Combinator pokes it’s nose in the Google antitrust case
*
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
*
Links from episode:
Check out Streamfog: https://streamfog.com/
Check out Peter Walkers post on “Graduating from Seed to Series A” https://x.com/PeterJ_Walker/status/1921288778192200087
Learn about the HUMAIN here: https://www.spa.gov.sa/en/N2316474
*
Follow Kev:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-bondzio/
*
Follow Lon:
*
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
*
Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
*
Thank you to our partners:
(10:30) Coda - Get started for free at https://coda.io/twist
(20:43) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist
(30:04) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
*
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