Podcast · 653 episodes
This Week in Startups, page 3
by Jason Calacanis · English
Jason Calacanis covers startups, tech, markets, media, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. He also interviews the world's greatest founders, operators, investors, and innovators.
All episodes, page 3
5,000+ Tech Workers Laid Off This Week. It's Just The Beginning. | E2286On-prem AI for regulated industries and “proof of human” for agentic/online systems.9 May 2026 · 1 h 12 min · 34 chapters
The end of Venture Capital? (VC Roundtable) | E2285VC industry concentration and whether venture capital is ending or evolving into “consensus VC” (corporate/large-firm style) versus traditional, founder-touch venture.6 May 2026 · 1 h 24 min · 29 chapters
Naval's GP, Ankur Nagpal, Breaks Down The Viral “USVC” Fund | E2284USVC (AngelList Close End Fund) explained—how a closed-end venture fund lets non-accredited investors invest as low as $500, with quarterly liquidity via tenders (up to 5% of the fund), and how…5 May 2026 · 1 h 38 min · 42 chapters
Can an AI Agent Legally Own a Company? Christian van der Henst's Wild Experiment| E2283Christian van der Henst tests whether an AI agent can legally own and run a microbusiness, using OpenClaw to operate a vending-machine “agent” named Valerie.1 May 2026 · 1 h 10 min · 24 chapters
Mastering AI Video Marketing w/ Magnific CEO Joaquín Cuenca Abela | AI BasicsHow Magnific (formerly Freepik) uses AI to help founders and marketing teams create high-quality marketing videos faster, including storyboard-to-video workflows, localization, and production scaling.30 Apr 2026 · 23 min · 12 chapters
The $10M+ Bet on a Beanie That Reads Your Brain | Sabi & the Future of BCI | E2282The episode mixes (1) a startup/community ops discussion about making initiatives a top priority by assigning clear “CEO of X” ownership and activating a “top 1%” audience via invite-only chat…29 Apr 2026 · 56 min · 23 chapters
China Kills Meta / Manus Deal (Story Of The Year) | E2281OpenAI–Microsoft partnership changes, China blocking Meta’s takeover of Manus, and a debated self-driving accident video; plus off-duty segments on Russell Brand, AI palm-reading privacy, and TV…28 Apr 2026 · 53 min · 29 chapters
Naval’s $500 VC fund, the Maduro Polymarket scandal, and NYT defends theft and murder | E2280The episode covers three main news/ideas: (1) AngelList’s “USVC” (US Venture Capital) $500-minimum, SEC-registered closed-end fund backed by Naval Ravikant, letting non-accredited retail invest in…25 Apr 2026 · 50 min · 23 chapters
The Defense Tech Startup YC Kicked Out of a Meeting is Now Arming America | E2280The episode debates AI “doomerism” and job displacement, argues startups should focus on problems big enough to matter, and spotlights two defense/AI-adjacent startups: Firehawk Aerospace’s…25 Apr 2026 · 59 min · 32 chapters
SpaceX and Cursor team up to topple Claude Code | E2279SpaceX (via XAI) partners with Cursor to build an AI coding/knowledge-work model (Composer), potentially as an acquisition “call option.” The episode also covers BitTensor’s BitStarter “Kickstarter”…22 Apr 2026 · 1 h 13 min · 29 chapters
Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278Two-part episode on enterprise AI “owning your intelligence” plus autonomous drone delivery logistics.21 Apr 2026 · 1 h 17 min · 37 chapters
3D-Printed Homes for $99K: ICON’s Jason Ballard on the future of housing | E2277ICON’s founder Jason Ballard discusses 3D-printed concrete homes and ICON Prime, a defense-focused arm.18 Apr 2026 · 1 h 47 min · 33 chapters
This 22-Year-Old Built TikTok for Mobile Games, and It’s Growing Fast | E2276Two parts. First, Nanogram (Albert Brotherton and Boris Radulov) is presented as “TikTok for mobile games”: a scrollable feed of casual games where users can also create and remix games quickly using…15 Apr 2026 · 1 h 3 min · 24 chapters
Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275Discussion of an alleged BitTensor/Tau “rug pull” involving subnet Templar, plus broader BitTensor subnet examples and how incentives and governance should prevent owner-abuse.14 Apr 2026 · 1 h 19 min · 32 chapters
Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274BitTensor “TAO” price drop and controversy, plus a deep dive into Video Subnet 85 (video upscaling/compression) and a separate AI “council of advisors” demo in Claude/OpenClaw.11 Apr 2026 · 1 h 22 min · 32 chapters
Anthropic’s Mythos is a cyber-weapon, so you can’t have it | E2273Anthropic’s “Mythos” preview model is being withheld because it could “escape” and, more importantly, chain together multiple security vulnerabilities to create sophisticated exploits across…9 Apr 2026 · 1 h 17 min · 33 chapters
3 AI Agents That Actually Replaced Human Jobs | E2272The episode argues that “agentic” AI (OpenClaw and related tools) is starting to replace parts of human roles, but not via fully autonomous job takeovers.7 Apr 2026 · 1 h 19 min · 36 chapters
AI Rebuilt Every YC W26 Startup. Should Founders Be Scared? | E2271Felt Sense CEO Marieke Kazan says AI “agentic founders” can rebuild many YC Winter 2026 startups, raising whether founders should be scared; he also argues most “moats” are non-defensible tech and…3 Apr 2026 · 1 h 21 min · 30 chapters
How 3 CEOs Use AI to Run $10B in Companies | This Week in AIRoundtable on how AI is moving beyond LLMs into tabular-data models, enterprise video generation, and the hardware needed to scale (energy, data centers, photonics interconnect).2 Apr 2026 · 30 min · 18 chapters
Venture Roundtable: SpaceX IPO, AI's PR Crisis, and the Defense Tech Bubble | E2270Venture Roundtable on SpaceX’s reported IPO filing, the AI “PR crisis” around job loss and data centers, and whether a defense/AI bubble is forming; also discusses venture liquidity and entrepreneur…1 Apr 2026 · 1 h 28 min · 40 chapters
The 5-Step Framework for AI Agents That Improve While You Sleep | E2269How to build AI agent workflows that run autonomously and improve over time, using OpenClaw.31 Mar 2026 · 1 h 27 min · 42 chapters
The $60 billion resource hiding in space, and the start trying to mine it (feat. Matt Gialich, Astroforge) | E2268Astroforge’s plan to mine platinum group metals (PGMs) from near-Earth asteroids, using a magnet-based landing and laser-based material removal, plus a discussion of Deep Space 2 and prior mission…27 Mar 2026 · 1 h 39 min · 39 chapters
This Bittensor Subnet Could Cut Drug Discovery Costs in HALF | E2267BitTensor subnets—Metanova (subnet 68) for decentralized drug discovery, BitCast (subnet 93) for creator “mining” of brand attention, plus a brief setup for Score (vision models).26 Mar 2026 · 1 h 13 min · 33 chapters
$2.5B Chip Heist, The Future of American AI, and Purpose-Built Robots | This Week in AI Ep 6AI’s impact on jobs and upskilling; purpose-built robots for critical infrastructure; and the “chip heist”/AI compute race (supply shortages, export controls, and which hardware platforms will…25 Mar 2026 · 1 h 15 min · 38 chapters