11x in Trouble and China's AI Acceleration | E2103
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2025
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon dig into the controversy around 11x, the Andreessen-backed startup accused of misrepresenting revenue and using fake logos, and what that says about early-stage accountability. Then we break down China’s dual-front blitz in AI and EVs: DeepSeek’s open-source model rivals GPT-4, and Xiaomi’s $30K SU7 is a straight-up Porsche clone shaking the EV market. Finally, we unpack the “4-persona framework” that helped Wiz rocket to $100M+ ARR faster than anyone — a must-know concept for any founder looking to build, sell, and scale like a beast.
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode Teaser(1:27) Introduction of co-hosts Lon Harris and Alex Wilhelm(3:23) New set design and color analysis(5:43) Announcement of "Twist OT" and potential Patreon model(8:09) Gamestop's Bitcoin strategy and Michael Saylor's influence(10:15) OpenPhone - Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/twist
(14:26) MSTR and their shift to Bitcoin
(17:01) Michael Saylor’s conflict of interest(20:40) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups(23:09) Investment strategies for company treasuries(25:10) Allegations against Eleven x startup(30:35) Brex - the financial stack founders can bank on. Get the business account trusted by 1 in 3 US startups at brex.com/banking-solutions.(32:56) The importance of transparency and accountability in startups(42:31) Chinese advancements in AI technology and ChatGPT features(55:09) Insight from Israeli VC Gilly Ranan on successful startups(1:04:26) Founder Friday March Pitch Madness bracket competition(1:10:26) How to start a Founder Friday chapter and community(1:11:21) Bracket competition and Launch Accelerator's 34th cohort
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's talk about 11X, the startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz. |
| 0:04.2 | TechCrunch put out a story about this. |
| 0:06.0 | In this case, one of the things that they covered was the misuse of customer logos, essentially. |
| 0:14.5 | 11X, according to Zoom Info, kept using their logo for at least four months on their site on, uh, it's AI |
| 0:23.4 | dialer in sales calls. And they spent four months demanding they stop, they said. And they're |
| 0:28.9 | threatening legal action over this. Oh, it's hard for me to believe that for four months, |
| 0:34.8 | somebody from Zoom was angrily emailing any member of the team at 11X, |
| 0:40.6 | and that person didn't communicate to the website team. |
| 0:43.7 | Hey, pull this logo. |
| 0:44.7 | Like, that, that to me is not a satisfying explanation on any level. |
| 0:51.2 | This Weekend Startups is brought to you by Open Phone. |
| 0:55.0 | To streamline and scale your customer communications with Open Phone, get 20% off your first six months at openphone.com slash twist. |
| 1:02.6 | LinkedIn ads. |
| 1:04.2 | To redeem a $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com slash this weekend startups. |
| 1:10.6 | And Brex, the financial stack |
| 1:13.2 | founders can bank on. Unlike traditional business banking solutions, Brex has no minimums and no |
| 1:17.5 | transaction fees. And you get 20 times the standard FDIC protection. Get the business account |
| 1:22.7 | trusted by one and three startups at brex.com slash banking dash solutions. All right, everybody, welcome back to this week in startups. |
| 1:29.8 | He's Lon Harris. |
| 1:31.3 | He's Alex Wilhelm. |
| 1:32.8 | We're going to do this week in tech. |
| 1:34.4 | I heard in two weeks, Alex, together. |
... |
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