This Week in Startups

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Deel - http://deel.com/twist
LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedin.com/twist
Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Today’s show: 

On Today’s action packed episode of This Week in Startups, our team is going full AI!

Jason is joined by Oliver Korzen and Lukas Durand from the LAUNCH team, alongside Rahul Sood, founder/CEO of Irrevernt Labs and founder of Voodoo PC.

With the rise of Clawdbot/Moltbot, the question on everyone’s mind is how fast, how much and how safe! Lukas and Oliver show off the ways that This Week in Startups are automating the hours of research and administrative tasks that take up our days and the what this means for running a podcast and venture firm.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Why we’re so obsessed with OpenClaw (Clawdbot)

(00:47) LAUNCH’s own Lukas Durand has joined the pod for the first time… Here’s how he and Jason met…

(02:26) Oliver is also here… check out his new series, This Week in AI

(03:11)How LAUNCH has its OpenClaw bot set up (without all the details!!!)

(06:03) The first few services that LAUNCH authenticated with our OpenClaw… And why!

(6:59) How OpenClaw is helping Oliver to book the show

(11:06) Deel - Founders ship faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes and get back to building. Visit http://deel.com/twist to learn more.

(14:08) Why OpenClaw sometimes struggles with context and memory, and how to work around it

(16:03) Understanding how to set up “cron jobs”

(20:19) LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at http://linkedin.com/twist That’s http://linkedin.com/twist. Terms and conditions apply.

(22:23) How OpenClaw works as our virtual podcast producer, and how much time we’ll save

(24:40) Can OpenClaw also help us prep the podcast agenda (aka THE DOCKET)?

(28:32) Lon chimes in to talk about how Claude helped him prep Jason’s Davos interviews

(31:30) Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(32:28) How many “Replicants” or AI agents does one company really need?

(36:09) Why Jason asked his OpenClaw bots to self-report on what they’re learning

(37:14) What OpenClaw WON’T do… Where did these guardrails come from?

(39:44)The hardware side… How much of this can you do from a Mac Studio?

(43:29) Zombie Staffers: How OpenClaw can “revive” long-lost employees…

(48:09) We’re putting OpenClaw in charge of the TWiST 500

(51:18) Rahul Sood joins us to talk about the dangers of OpenClaw and how to stay protected

(53:01) Why so many OpenClaw skills have major vulnerabilities

(1:00:00) Moltbook: Where bots hang out with other bots and share info

(1:06:44) Why powerful AI agents will make creative work by humans so much more important.

(1:07:22) Rahul’s final recommendations for max possible OpenClaw security

(1:14:00) Is OpenClaw going to bring hiring to a halt?

(1:21:10) Why getting comfortable with AI tools will become essential for every employee

Thank you to our partners:
(11:06) Deel - Founders ship faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes and get back to building. Visit http://deel.com/twist to learn more.

(20:19) LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at http://linkedin.com/twist That’s http://linkedin.com/twist. Terms and conditions apply.
(31:30) Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Gusto - http://Gusto.com/twist

Zite - http://zite.com/twist

Circle.so - http://circle.so/twist

Guest links: 

Andrew Duffy, Founder and CEO, http://sparkplug.app — Retail incentives and brand partnerships platform

Ford Smith, Founder of http://Ultranative.com — Investing in transformative startups

Socrates Rosenfeld, Founder and CEO of http://iheartjane.com — One stop shop for cannabis products

Today’s show: 

On TWiST’s first Cannabis Roundtable, Jason is joined by three top Cannabis founders and investors: Ford Smith of Ultranative, Andrew Duffy of Sparkplug, and Socrates Rosenfeld of Jane.

How will the regulatory environment and the move to Schedule III change the industry? Are those regulations shaping consumption? How are investors thinking about cannabis startups given the difficulty with exits? Most importantly, what’s the deal with the increasing potency of cannabis?

Each guest has their own perspective, Andrew sees it as a natural reaction from CPG brands to power users, Ford points to “flyover” operators unconcerned with long-term health of the industry, while Socrates refers to moonshine drinking during the prohibition to say that regulations create these problems.

Speaking of moonshine, alcohol consumption is dropping dramatically among Gen-Z, with many pointing to cannabis consumption as a substitute. Some perceive cannabis as healthier and lacking caloric nature of alcohol, which could explain why there are now more daily smokers than daily drinkers!

Timestamps:

(0:00) Guest Introductions for the Cannabis Roundtable!

(2:50) Why Jason invested in Sparkplug

(6:44) How Ford Smith got into Cannabis investing — is it Cannabis a good investment?

(11:40) Gusto - Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small business and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at http://Gusto.com/twist.

(12:46) Socrates breaks down building a major cannabis marketplace

(18:13) Canadian legalization and tailwinds for cannabis.

(20:25) How Cannabis startups are pivoting to deal with high competition and regulatory pressure

(21:47) Zite - Zite is the fastest way to build business software with AI. Go to http://zite.com/twist to get started.

(27:07) Who benefits from legalization of cannabis? Healthcare? Retail? Banking?

(28:03) How the alcohol industry is getting crushed by cannabis usage

(31:27) Circle.so -  The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off Circle’s Professional Plan by going to http://circle.so/twist.

(32:47) Is new cannabis too potent? Is high potency cannabis a result of illegal rules.

(42:05) Why heavy consumers are driving CPG startups to high doses

(44:14) Cannabis psychosis and the problem with brands selling potency items.

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Thank you to our partners:

(11:40) Gusto - Check out the online payroll and benefits experts with software built specifically for small business and startups. Try Gusto today and get three months FREE at http://Gusto.com/twist.

(21:47) Zite - Zite is the fastest way to build business software with AI. Go to http://zite.com/twist to get started.

(31:27) Circle.so -  The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off Circle’s Professional Plan by going to http://circle.so/twist.

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Quo - http://quo.com/TWiST

Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twist

Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Today’s show: 

Jason is back from Davos and Tokyo! We are jumping right back in with a group of Clawdbot power users: Alex Finn, Matt Von Horn, and Dan Penguine.

Clawdbot is a hot open source AI project that lets users automate… everything! Dan helped his automate his aging parent’s tea shop, Matt built news sourcing bots, and Alex runs his one-man SAAS startup with Clawdbot as an AI employee!

But with all of that power comes the responsibility of making sure you are not giving your AI too many authorizations that could come under fire! Whether fisching emails, “injections”, or bad decision making from incorrect information online.

Check out how these 3 experts, Jason and Alex are thinking about the bleeding edge of AI!

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introducing today’s Clawdbot experts!

(04:09) How Matt Von Horn makes “Skills” with Clawdbot

(10:53) Quo (formerly OpenPhone) gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at http://quo.com/TWiST.

(13:25) Dan Penguine’s “Normy” use case: automating his parent’s tea shop

(19:50) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://lemon.io/twist

(22:23) Alex Finn breaks down how Clawdbot lets him run a one man startup

(24:28) Alex Finn on Clawdbot autonomously building apps within his business

(28:33) Security concerns with Clawdbot, can your AI get hacked?

(32:46) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(35:07) Why is everyone buying Mac Minis?

(37:39) How to think about LLM Token usage

(46:02) Clawdbot will build CRMs, project management software, etc without being asked. Is this the end of SAAS?

(46:58) Matt live uploads his new Clawdbot skill on aire!

(48:22) Why was Clawdbot able to move so much quicker than Anthropic and OpenAI?

(50:17) What is Clawdbot’s business model as an open source AI?

(53:27) Matt’s recursive AI prompt loop and how AI prompts layer

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Thank you to our partners:

(10:53) Quo (formerly OpenPhone) gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at http://quo.com/TWiST

(19:50) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://lemon.io/twist

(32:46) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Sentry.io - sentry.io/twist
Hubspot - clickhubspot.com/twist2
Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
Today’s show:
One day soon, you might consult an AI general practitioner about your health, and then the computer will recommend human specialists to take up your case.
On TWiST Tokyo, Jason chats with Fred Almeida — founder and CEO of American Medical Intelligence Inc. — and Maxwell Weiss, a partner at Pacific Bays Capital.
Together, they discuss the future of medicine, and the opportunities for individuals to take greater control over their health and preventative care strategies.
PLUS a look at how Japan has stayed at the forefront of technology despite NOT being a manufacturing hub, why so many Americans are willing to take a pay cut to move to Japan for work, and the concept of “genten shugi,” and how it prevents some Japanese people from communicating with English speakers, despite understanding the language.
THEN we hear pitches from some of our favorite Founder University x Japan companies, and Fred, Jason, and Max pick their favorites!
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introducing today’s big guests: founder Fred Almeida and investor Max Weiss!
(5:43) Why Fred thinks one day soon, an AI will be your general practitioner
(8:26) The power of getting self-directed medical diagnostics
(13:27) Max says Japan has moved into Decade 2 in its venture capital journey
(14:37) Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST
(16:05) Max and Jason had wagyu barbecue the other night
(17:10) Japan doesn’t OFFICIALLY have a standing army…
(21:37) Why the line between talking startups and politics is blurring
(23:05) Hubspot - Check out the guide “Advanced ChatGPT Prompt Engineering: From Basic to Expert in 7 Days.” Download it for free at clickhubspot.com/twist2.
(24:59) Japan doesn’t make a lot of things, but it produces the underlying tech behind a lot of things
(25:52) Understanding Genten Shugi: Why some in Japan still have an “English allergy”
(29:42) Why some Americans will take a pay cut to come work in Japan
(33:28) Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
(34:10) PITCH #1: Cascade(36:10) PITCH #2: Altsource Global(38:10) PITCH #3: GoalMochi(40:25) Jason, Max, and Fred give feedback on our first three pitches(42:45) Would GoalMochi ever consider adding personas for added expertise, like say a nutritionist?(44:30) How does Cascade plan to compete against the massive ad networks of companies like Google and Meta?(46:05) PITCH #4: RandomChat(48:10) PITCH #5: Eir(50:05) More feedback for our final two pitches of the day(52:44) Fred wants to know how Eir’s product will integrate with other systems(54:19) Why Gigi made herself available to chat in her app(57:50) Why Jason thinks RandomChat should add anonymous personas

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Follow Lon:
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Thank you to our partners:
(14:37) Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST
(23:05) Hubspot - Check out the guide “Advanced ChatGPT Prompt Engineering: From Basic to Expert in 7 Days.” Download it for free at clickhubspot.com/twist2.
(33:28) Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/savings

LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twist

Today’s show: 

On today’s TWIST episode, Alex interviews two of the top startup co-founders: Keller Cliffton of Zipline and Anastasis Germanidis of Runway. 

Zipline announced its $600 million raise at a $7.6 BILLION valuation. Kellers breaks down the origins, economics, and future of Zipline’s contrarian bet in drone delivery. What was science fiction a decade ago is now a regular part of life for many. In fact, Zipline operates more flights than United!

Zipline is set to leapfrog the car delivery apps AND self driving cars with the superior economics of drone delivery. It is much cheaper to transport your burrito in a lightweight drone than a 6,000 pound self driving car!

Then, Alex is joined by Anastasis Germanidis, the CTO and co-founder of Runway, to explain why the next frontier of generative AI is world models! Runway  is looking to build a universal simulation, which will unlock massive gains in robotics, autonomy, and simulations. The world model would be able to simulate rare edge cases that could take years to find naturally! 

Check out how this cutting edge AI startup’s NYU Tisch School of Art’s origins

Then, See Jason’s answer to the question: “When should founders pivot or give up?”

Timestamps: 

(00:00) The Drone revolution is here!

(02:46) Inside Zipline’s factory to build 20K drones a year

(04:40) American dynamism Vs. Chinese manufacturing dominance

(09:00) How Zipline is growing 75% month on month

(9:50) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(11:15) Zipline teleports food and goods to your house

(21:54) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/savings to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.

(23:02) Is it affordable to use a drone to deliver a burrito?

(29:18) Zipline DOUBLES United’s flight numbers

(31:11) LinkedIn Jobs - post your job for free at http://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant.

(32:21) Anastasis break’s down Runway’s AI modeling

(35:24) Runway’s Gen 4.5 and the world model

(40:57) Why do robotics companies need a world model?

(43:04) Using AI to simulate robot laundry folding

(52:37) Runway’s origins at NYU’s art school

(55:46) Founder Q/A: When to pivot or give up on your startup

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Follow Lon:

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

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Thank you to our partners:

(9:50) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(21:54) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/savings to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.

(31:11) LinkedIn Jobs - post your job for free at http://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant.

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/