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This Week in Startups

Boom Supersonic's Milestones, OpenAI Ethics, and Startup Tools | E2078

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

Technology

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This Week in Startups is brought to you by…

Vanta. Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

Northwest Registered Agent. For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist⁠ today.

Scalable Path. Get 20% off your first month at https://www.scalablepath.com/twist

Today’s show: Jason and Alex cover Jason’s unique sauna experience, leading them to discuss the value of niche communities and supporting small startups, spotlighting Boom Supersonic's achievements and Starlink's aviation collaborations. Financial updates include the Federal Reserve's actions and Trump's public opinion. They analyze the impact of CapEx on tech giants and Meta's AR/VR success. The DeepSeek controversy, OpenAI's intellectual property issues, and AI race risks and opportunities are explored. Jason and Alex conclude with insights on building startups and modern tools for entrepreneurs.


Timestamps:

(0:00) Episode Teaser (1:39) Introduction to the podcast; Jason's sauna experience; GoPolar app (3:41) Niche communities; encouraging small startup projects (10:11) Vanta. Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

(13:48) Boom Supersonic's achievements and flight details (18:30) Starlink's role in aviation; Apple collaboration; Helium project

(20:47) Northwest Registered Agent. For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit ⁠https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist⁠ today. (24:11) Financial updates; Federal Reserve; Trump's public opinion

(30:14) Scalable Path. Get 20% off your first month at https://www.scalablepath.com/twist (31:57) Federal spending; debt strategies; upcoming tech earnings (37:18) Impact of CapEx on tech giants; Meta's AR/VR success (42:26) DeepSeek controversy; OpenAI's response and IP issues (50:13) AI race risks and opportunities; OpenAI's market position (57:13) Building startups; Founder University; modern tools for startups (1:02:15) Closing remarks; upcoming episodes


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


Check out:

Boom Supersonic: https://boomsupersonic.com/

GoPolar App: https://www.gopolar.app/


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:

(10:11) Vanta. Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist (20:47) Northwest Registered Agent. For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit ⁠https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today.

(30:14) Scalable Path. Get 20% off your first month at https://www.scalablepath.com/twist


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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Open AI stole content. Everybody who leaves Open AI, while the leadership that leaves starts

0:06.1

another company. The flipping from a nonprofit to a for-profit, there is definitely an ethical

0:11.0

issue at Open AI, specifically with Sam Altman, according to the people who worked for him.

0:16.7

Now, is he being unfairly treated? Is it like everybody's ganging up on him for some reason?

0:21.8

It doesn't feel that way.

0:23.3

If it was one or two people, you could make that case.

0:25.5

But when it's like 10 or 20 people who are saying, I have ethical problems and they fired him for ethics.

0:30.9

It's interesting how the perspective on that is flipped because when the board fired Sam

0:34.3

Allman, everyone in technology Twitter was like, this is ridiculous.

0:37.3

The non-nerds are

0:38.2

kicking out the nerds. Sam Altman's a genius. This person on the board has a PhD in art.

0:44.7

And now we're like, the board was right. This week in startups is brought to you by Vanta.

0:53.1

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1:00.0

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1:05.0

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1:31.0

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1:36.0

Visit scalablepath.com slash twist for 20% off your first month.

1:39.7

Hey, everybody. Welcome to this week in startups. I'm Jason Calacanus. He's Alex.

...

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