This Week in Startups

Jason covers Instagram's Adam Mosseri announcing the pause of Instagram Kids (2:09), the recent firing of Bevy employee following a hostile interaction in Brooklyn (21:51). Then, Squarespace Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena joins (35:43) to discuss what marketing channels have been best for growing the company, new products offerings and shares stories from scaling and more!

Jason covers China's latest crypto mandate (0:59), a TikToker's conspiracy about iBuyers and the Redfin CEO's response (17:17), then takes a bunch of Ask Jason Questions (31:42) & more!

In this all news show, Jason teases a new podcast dedicated to SaaS (1:46) and covers: the EU's planned USB-C mandate (7:44), China's property glut (13:12), TikTok Investors following congressional trades (20:24), Tim Cook's battle against leakers (25:47), the "Facebook Files" source (28:36), Bolt's 4-day workweek and more! Then he takes some listener questions (47:24).

First, Jason covers the new Apple Maps and what he speculates it means for their next major product (2:11), then discusses SEC Chair Gary Gensler calling crypto the "wild west"(10:38). Then, Jason interviews Pacaso Founder & CEO Austin Allison about fractional home ownership, battling NIMBY's and more (24:46)!

In a short news segment, Jason describes Apple's new iCloud+ privacy suite (2:18). Then, Framework founder Nirav Patel joins to talk about making laptop customization great again (13:04)! They discuss the difficulty of raising VC for a consumer hardware startup, creating products for the "modding" audience, the environmental benefit of fixing products and more(24:16)!

In news, Jason covers Bytedance's decision to institute a 40 minute limit for kids on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok (1:56) and hits on the real estate situation in SF and implications for the startup community (15:02). Then, Orbital Insight's CEO Kevin O'Brien joins for the next installment of our Next Unicorns series (21:38) discussing how to make sense of billions of satellite images and...

First, Jason reacts to comments from Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri on the impact of Instagram on teen girls and comparing the risks of social media to the automobile industry (1:50). Then, Jason breaks down OpenSea's update on their front-running employee (11:55), and Jay-Z's NFT lawsuit (15:40). Finally, Sourcegraph CEO Quinn Slack joins to discuss growing his universal code search engine, selli...

Full news show! First up, Jason covers the App Annie fraud (1:59), then he shares thoughts on Facebook's leaked documents showing they knew Instagram was detrimental to teen girls' mental health despite claiming the contrary (13:55). He also touches on Discord's $15B valuation (25:56), Mailchimp selling for $12B (33:40), and answers some livestream questions (40:35)!

First, Jason breaks down NFT platform OpenSea admitting one of their employees was front-running featured items (2:02). Could this tip off the SEC that NFTs might be securities rather than collectibles (12:01)? Then, Jason talks to Producer Rachel about TWiST Meetups (18:24). Finally, Goldbelly CEO Joe Ariel joins to talk about his high-end food marketplace, being the first mover in a blossoming c...

Brad Stone, the author of "Amazon Unbound", joined to talk about Elon Musk (09:44), Amazon's workplace environment (23:25), the importance of Prime (27:17), which tech companies are most dangerous for society (51:13), & more!

Beth Kindig and Knox Ridley from the I/O Fund came on to discuss with Jason their top growth stocks, market indicators, how to manage risk in an all tech portfolio, potential big tech spin outs, Roku's incredible expansion and more!

Rapid fire news episode. First, Jason covers how a fire proofed home survived the Caldor fire, Amazon's plan to provide college for all its employees, Facebook copying Snap's glasses, Notion acquiring Automate.io & more. At the end, Jason takes a few questions from listeners and shares a story from when he ran Silicon Alley Reporter.

Coinbase CEO Brain Armstrong took to Twitter to call out the SEC for what Coinbase considers unclear guidance & hostility around their Lend product, Jason breaks down the situation (1:43). Then, to better understand how DeFi lending works Jason interviews Matt Ballensweig the Head of Institutional Lending at Genesis, a crypto prime brokerage (9:51). We close with three "Ask Jason" questions (50:23...

First Jason covers the $19M Bored Ape Yacht Club bid on Sotheby's & the Loot NFT collection launched by a Vine co-founder (1:42), and briefly covers Tether being banned from Canadian exchanges (11:07). Then serial founder and investor Joe Lonsdale joins (19:53) to discuss his companies (Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov), his new podcast "American Optimist," what regulations need to be fixed in the US, C...

First, Jason discusses how to balance product vision with customer feedback in a FounderU segment (0:57). Then, actor and investor Adrian Grenier joins to discuss the launch of his new fund DuContra Ventures (20:52), the importance of saying "No" (33:24), acting (41:23) and more!

Jason chats with Miso Robotics CEO Mike Bell (1:07), about automating food preparation, filling the labor gap, the consequences of robots, growing with crowdfunding and more. Then, TWIST Producer Rachel Braun interviews Dan Toomey about the strategies he uses to run the Morning Brew TikTok account.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs have been going crazy in the secondary market, Jason brings on collector and co-founder of media site "The Infatuation" Andrew Steinthal (2:04) to chat about why he bought in, why he's not selling, and the overall mechanics of the community. Then, TWIST producer Rachel interviews the Nicole DeTommaso of Harlem VC (33:25) about how she broke into venture capital with a...

First, Jason covers the kickoff of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial (1:48). Then, Blokable Co-CEO & Co-Founder Aaron Holm joins (16:37) to discuss solving the housing crisis, the Phoenix Rising project (27:05), why vertical integration is the key to making modular affordable, green materials (40:53), why LA's homeless housing project went way over budget (46:46) & more.

First Jason covers the CCP banning US IPOs for big tech companies, closing the VIE loophole (1:50), then Audius Co-Founder Roneil Rumburg joins (18:44) to talk about his "decentralized SoundCloud," how decentralized crypto projects actually work for investors and executives, and more!

In the news segment, Jason covers unicorn SaaS Startup called HeadSpin has been accused of a massive fraud by the SEC and DOJ (2:06), and Pacaso real estate startup offering fractional ownership of vacation homes is causing outrage in wine country (17:35). Then, Jason interviews Not Boring's Packy McCormick (34:41), about his time at WeWork competitor Breather (36:14), turning his newsletter into...

In today's news show, Jason covers OnlyFans being back to business as usual (1:31), the stablecoin Circle cleaning up commercial paper from their USDC reserves (16:49), and does a break down of Warby Parker's S-1 as the company prepare to go public via direct listing (30:30).

In this news episode Jason covers Facebook finally revealing their Q1 transparency report after they originally shelved the report for PR purposes (2:08), Tyga deleting his OnlyFans account and announcing he will launch a competing platform (23:59), the WSJ's coverage of where Jack Ma is now (36:19) & more!

Jason breaks down the OnlyFans' pivot away from sexual conduct (1:54), then he covers all the robot highlights from this week, Boston Dynamics robots doing backflips (23:34), Disney creating AI characters (31:25), and Tesla's announcement of "TeslaBot" (38:21) & more.

Jason breaks down the 2 metrics he uses to to assess Robinhood's Q2 earnings (1:43) and Amazon entering Department Store retail (16:39). Then, Mark Suster from Upfront Ventures joins (24:07) to discuss venture metrics, community as a moat, why high valuations don't necessarily mean a bubble & more.

Jason opens the show with a brief recap of "Noodlegate" and the end of cancel culture (2:09). Then he chats with OpenGov CEO Zac Bookman for the latest installment of our Next Unicorns series (14:10) about what makes governments ineffective (25:46), preventing corruption (30:37), the challenges selling into governments (35:54), how some states like Idaho & West Virginia have made their detailed bu...