Breaking down Ryan Breslow's YC critique + Spotify's solution & Joe Rogan's response | E1374

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

Technology

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2022

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the weekend Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow wrote a big thread on why he thinks Y Combinator isn't worth it. We break it down point by point and assess the validity of the claims (7:07). Right before we started recording, news broke that Breslow was leaving the CEO role to assume the executive chairman position, so we cover that too (2:11). Then, we cover Joe Rogan’s expla-nology (explanation/apology) video regarding his COVID-related interviews that have upset many. We react to his response, Spotify's new COVID policy and reflect on the risks to Spotify’s business overall (44:32).

(0:00) Jason and Molly tee up today’s topics: Bolt CEO steps down after another spicy thread, Rogan “apologizes” for COVID misinformation
(2:11) Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow stepped down as CEO to executive chair: was it really his decision?
(7:07) Jason and Molly break down Breslow’s thread on YC not being worth it for founders
(15:43) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(17:00) Breslow’s YC thread cont.: breaking down Breslow’s five beliefs about YC
(27:53) Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week at https://ourcrowd.com/twist
(29:11) YC scaling fundraising and opening access to venture capital to more groups of founders; Breslow’s advice on building a network and fundraising
(36:03) Marlow - Get 15% off your individual or team memberships at https://getmarlow.com/twist.
(37:18) YC alumni have started a blockchain-based DAO called Orange DAO to invest in crypto startups
(44:32) Joe Rogan’s “apology” video and Spotify’s new COVID disclaimer: Molly nails the prediction, has Spotify done a bad job of content moderation so far?
(53:42) Breaking down Joe Rogan’s explanology (explanation/apology) piece by piece
(1:13:17) Jason breaks down the math of Spotify acquiring Joe Rogan for ~$100M and Howard Stern’s similar deal with Sirius XM

Ryan's Thread: https://twitter.com/theryanking/status/1487500943511932941

Joe Rogan's Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZYQ_nDJi6G/

FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Okay, we have major breaking news.
0:02.3	Bolt CEO, Ryan Breslau, has stepped down as CEO
0:07.1	and he is moving to an executive chairman role.
0:10.5	This is after.
0:11.7	Yes, he did this crazy YC thread that YC was not worth it.
0:16.2	This after the thread that YC and Venture is a mob.
0:20.8	The kid threw bombs and now he's out of a job.
0:24.5	Was this his decision or was he pushed out?
0:27.6	We're going to talk about it today and
0:30.0	and we're going to talk about the fundamentals of his argument
0:33.2	about Y Combinator, which actually turns into a little bit of an extra bonus
0:38.7	BC Sunday school, if you will.
0:40.4	BC Monday school.
0:42.3	We also, God help us, waiting into the Joe Rogan conversation.
0:48.1	We talk about the Explanology as well.
0:50.5	We're calling it an Explanation and an Apology Instagram video.
0:54.1	We also break it down in pieces.
0:56.0	Good one, by the way.
0:56.8	Good producers.
0:57.6	Good coinage.
0:58.4	Explanology.
0:59.7	Explanology.
	...

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