logo
episode-header-image
Aug 1
1h 23m

TWiST 500 interviews with Cortical Labs,...

Jason Calacanis
About this episode

Today’s show:

Alex is back with three more awesome interviews with founders on the bleeding edge of innovative tech.

  • Dr. Hon Weng Chong walks us through the basics of biological computing and Cortical Labs’ first-ever commercial computer running on living human cells.
  • Turing founder Jonathan Siddarth unpacks the secrets of LLM benchmarking, and explains why even our most advanced tests need to get much much harder right away.
  • Finally, Mercor founder Brendan Foody on how AI is about to reinvent the hiring process, and marrying the effectiveness of recruiters with the ease of online job boards.

It’s three — count ’em, three — can’t miss TWiST interviews guaranteed to make you smarter

Timestamps:

(0:00) OpenAI’s GPT-5: When is it coming out? Is it going to be TOO smart?

(08:06) Cortical Labs’ Hon Weng Chong on the electric connection between neuroscience and machine learning

(10:20) 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 today!

(11:27) Show Continues…

(15:17) The extreme difficulty of going from the lab to a shippable product

(20:00) .TECH: Say it without saying it. Head to www.get.tech/twist or your favorite registrar to get a clean, sharp .tech domain today.

(21:05) Show Continues…

(28:15) Why data is a factor of time

(29:52) AWS Activate - AWS Activate helps startups bring their ideas to life. Apply to AWS Activate today to learn more. Visit aws.amazon.com/startups/credits

(31:16) Show Continues…

(42:44) Turing CEO Jonathan Siddarth explains why it’s so important to keep benchmarking our LLMs

(47:24) What it means when a model “saturates” a test, and why benchmarks need to get HARDER

(50:22) What happens with the LLMs can answer all of our smartest questions?

(53:44) AI Agents train in gyms? Wait, really?

(01:01:33) Coding teaches models how to think, and more training mysteries don’t understand

(01:03:11) Brendan Foody from Mercor explains the “matching problem” that makes hiring such a pain

(01:07:02) How Mercor combines a job board’s distribution with the value of a recruitment agency

(01:10:49) Brendan recalls building his first AI interviewer in his college dorm

(01:20:16) Mercor has the opposite of a retention problem and crazy growth


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


Follow Lon:

X: https://x.com/lons


Follow Alex:

X: https://x.com/alex

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


Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

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


Thank you to our partners:

(10:20) 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 today!

(20:00) .TECH: Say it without saying it. Head to www.get.tech/twist or your favorite registrar to get a clean, sharp .tech domain today.

(29:52) AWS Activate - AWS Activate helps startups bring their ideas to life. Apply to AWS Activate today to learn more. Visit aws.amazon.com/startups/credits


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
Communist coffee hits NYC, RIP Hulu, GPT-5 arrives and more | E2161
Today’s show:It’s a brand-new PACKED episode of TWiST. Jason and Alex welcome guest Zach Dive of Adam.new, to tell us why he made a deepfake AI ad starring Jason and the All-In besties.PLUS a rundown of the biggest tech and startup news of the day, including Disney’s decision to ... Show More
1h 13m
Aug 5
Lina Khan’s Figma victory lap, Meta’s Superintelligence Team, BYD mega car-carrier video & MORE | E2160
Today’s show:Jason and Alex are running down the biggest tech, startup, and business stories of the day on a brand-new Monday TWIST.Which countries are leading the AI race, based on academic papers? Why Jason thinks covert agencies are spying on Meta’s superintelligence team. Lin ... Show More
1h 9m
Jul 30
All Star Investor Panel! Sophia Amoruso and Ryan Hoover | E2158
Today’s show:It’s another All Star Investor Panel! Jason and Alex welcome TrustFund VC founder Sophia Amoruso AND WeekendFund investor/Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover.Together they’re going DEEP on the current environment for startups, founders, and investors. How do tell durabl ... Show More
1h 13m
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2025
Next-Gen Founders: Startups in the Age of AI (Edu)
Is AI making startups easier—or just changing the rules of the game?In a world where execution is cheap and accessible, building a successful startup is more competitive than ever. In this episode, Chris Saad and Yaniv Bernstein unpack the reality of every business having access ... Show More
53m 2s
Jul 2024
SearchGPT Takes on Google, Meta's AI Clones & The State of AI Investment (Reacts)
Could the launch of SearchGPT by OpenAI and Meta's AI Bots for creators redefine search engines and social media engagement? Discover how these advancements will reshape the tech landscape in this week's Reacts episode, packed with the latest AI updates. Join Ben Parr and ... Show More
50m 22s
May 13
Elad Gil: How to Spot a Billion-Dollar Startup Before the Rest of the World
What if the world’s most connected tech investor handed you his mental playbook? Elad Gil, an investor behind Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase and Anduril, flips conventional wisdom on its head and prioritizes market opportunities over founders. Elad decodes why innovation has clustered ... Show More
1h 38m
Nov 2024
Can this AI Chip Startup Beat NVIDIA? (Spotlight)
Is it possible for a startup to compete with NVIDIA, the $1 trillion behemoth dominating AI hardware? Thomas Sohmers and his team at Positron are betting they can and they're moving at lightning speed to prove it. In this episode, Chris Saad sits down with Thomas Sohmers, founder ... Show More
44m 55s
Jun 2024
SaaS Implosion? NVIDIA Eats OpenAI's Lunch, AI Doomsday Predictions, Silicon Valley Revisited (Reacts)
What's happened to B2B SaaS – and will NVIDIA eat OpenAI's lunch? Learn the latest movements in tech startups from industry insiders. In this week's episode, Chris, Emil and Yaniv discuss: B2B, Or Not To Be: Disappointing guidance from industry giants like Salesforce, ... Show More
48m 44s
Mar 2025
Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder)
Anton Osika 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 hit $4 million ARR in ... Show More
1h 9m
Oct 2024
Insiders React: SpaceX’s Big Win + Kamala Backs Crypto, Dubai’s Tech Rise, Replit AI Changes Coding
What if you could build and deploy a full app in minutes, without writing a single line of code? In this episode, Chris Saad and Ray Dargham, Co-Founder and CEO at Step, discuss the latest tech news shaping the future for founders and investors.  From crypto policy shifts to grou ... Show More
51m 44s
Jun 16
Apps Are Obsolete: How Startups Can Leverage the New Era of AI Agents (Spotlight)
What if your next startup competitor doesn’t have a single employee?AI agents aren’t just another software trend — they’re redefining the interface between humans, data, and execution, yet many founders still confuse basic chatbots with the true potential of these agents.In this ... Show More
46m 43s
Dec 2024
Agentic Workflow and Generative AI for Enterprises
Vivek Kumar, Director Of CX Innovation & Strategy, Oracle Corporation, discusses the integration of generative AI into enterprise solutions, with a focus on its transformative impact on customer experience and CRM systems. He highlights Oracle's decade-long journey with AI, the e ... Show More
31m 25s
Apr 2024
Google Strikes Back in AI & A Lone Hero Saves the Internet (Reacts)
The insiders return this week to discuss the latest strides in Google's AI innovations: Google unveiled groundbreaking AI advancements at Cloud Next, showcasing Gemini 1.5's impressive capabilities. Their focus on enterprise AI customers signals a strategic shift for Goog ... Show More
43m 20s