Cursor’s $300M ARR, Uber’s FTC Battle, and Office Hours with GoShare | E2116
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2025
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Jason, Alex and Lon unpack the FTC’s lawsuit against Uber and what it could mean for subscription UX, break down how AI startup Cursor is growing faster than almost any SaaS company in history, and discuss how dark patterns, consumer trust, and regulatory scrutiny are reshaping product design. They also touch on the future of big tech breakups, share insights from founder Office Hours with GoShare CEO Shaun Savage, highlighting the power of focus, capital, and customer obsession for startups navigating turbulent markets.
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode Tease(1:21) Jason talks about personal interests, frugality, and TWIST live tour(7:29) Nick Huber's tweet on tariffs and business impact(9:58) NetSuite - Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist(11:22) Market uncertainty and paused deals(13:57) Trump's market feedback and tariffs(16:29) Cursor's rapid revenue growth(19:44) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist(21:16) Valuation discussion continuation and FTC sues Uber(29:58) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist(31:26) FTC dark patterns and consumer protection(33:23) Founder Friday bracket competition: LifeStack vs MedSimple(43:50) Introduction to GoShare and founder Shaun Savage(45:57) Regulatory challenges in the gig economy and supply chain resilience(57:37) Diversification strategies for GoShare's delivery professionals(1:00:23) Benefits of office hours and brainstorming with portfolio companies(1:01:26) Founder University and Launch Accelerator updates
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Links from episode:
GoShare: https://goshare.co/
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Follow Shaun:
X: https://x.com/ShaunSavage19
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunsavage/
Follow Lon:
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
Thank you to our partners:
(9:58) NetSuite - Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist
(19:44) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist
(29:58) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.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
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The FTC, the Trump FTC is suing Uber. |
| 0:04.7 | Now, the allegation I'm going to quote is that Uber charged consumers for its Uber-1 subscription service without their consent, |
| 0:12.1 | failed to deliver promise savings, and made it difficult for users to cancel the service. |
| 0:15.8 | I want you to walk us through why you think the FTC might be a little bit aggressive in this case. |
| 0:21.2 | I like what the FTC is doing with cracking down on tactics that are against consumer |
| 0:29.7 | interest. So obviously, I'm long Uber. I don't have to state that. But when I see like Wall |
| 0:35.2 | Street Journal and it's impossible to unsubscribe, I've talked about it here countless times. |
| 0:39.3 | I hate this stuff. |
| 0:40.8 | It's infuriating. |
| 0:43.0 | This weekend startups is brought to you by NetSuite, the number one cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one platform, giving you one source of truth. |
| 0:53.7 | Download CFO's guide to AI and Machine Learning |
| 0:55.7 | for free at net suite.com slash twist. Gusto. Gusto is easy online payroll benefits in HR built for |
| 1:02.3 | modern small businesses. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at gusto.com |
| 1:06.6 | slash twist. And Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal breaker for startups to win new business. |
| 1:13.7 | Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC2 report fast. |
| 1:17.0 | Twist listeners can get $1,000 off for limited time at vanta.com slash twist. |
| 1:21.1 | All right, everybody, welcome back to this week in startup. |
| 1:23.8 | I'm in my hometown, New York, New York. |
| 1:26.2 | The city's so nice. |
| 1:27.0 | They named it twice. Got to see my |
| 1:28.6 | Nick's lose last night. And I'm heading to, I guess, the worst city in America or top three |
| 1:36.3 | worst cities in America. Detroit. I mean, it's like Philly, Detroit. Whoa. Chicago. These are |
... |
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