Self-Driving Car Myths, Klarna’s Big IPO & Netflix’s $300M Gamble | E2098
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon break down a wild viral test on self-driving cars— will FSD see through fog, or does LiDAR win? Plus, Klarna is finally going public… but is "buy now, pay later" still the future or just a debt trap? And Netflix drops $300M on a Russo Brothers sci-fi blockbuster—critics hate it, but audiences love it. Was it worth it? We also dive into big tech’s crackdown on remote work, the Uber of estate managers, and why content creators might be falling into an algorithmic trap.
*
Timestamps:
(0:00) Teaser: Can you fool a self-driving car?
(3:11) The Electric State film discussion
(7:35) Netflix's strategy, subscriber growth, and podcast licensing deals
(10:06) Disney's content strategy insights
(10:55) NetSuite. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist
(14:27) Kids investment club and estate manager service ideas
(21:02) Horatio - Visit https://www.hirehoratio.com/twist and get $2,000 off your initial set up.
(22:44) Estate management expansion and Uber's role in transportation
(27:19) Klarna's IPO, financials, and buy now, pay later services concerns
(30:25) Lemon.io. Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(35:12) E-commerce trends and algorithmic content creation impact
(40:21) Remote vs. in-person technical interviews
(43:08) Work-life balance, early rising myths, and avoiding burnout
(50:45) The importance of mentorship and coaching
(52:06) Google autocorrect issues for startup names and future of SEO
(56:24) Mark Rober's "Can you fool a self-driving car?" video discussion
(1:00:13) Human vs. FSD driving standards and safety
(1:03:29) Waymo's strategy and autonomous driving competition concerns
(1:06:14) Government regulations and milestones for autonomous vehicles
(1:08:18) Global AI competition and safety standards in the automotive industry
*
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
*
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
*
Follow Lon:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lonharris
*
Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
*
Thank you to our partners:
(10:55) NetSuite. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist(21:02) Horatio - Visit https://www.hirehoratio.com/twist and get $2,000 off your initial set up.(30:25) Lemon.io. Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/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 | We have a video you want me to react to. Hit me. |
| 0:02.1 | Can you fool a self-driving car? This video's only been online for about a day, and it has |
| 0:07.4 | eight million views already. This thing is blowing the hell out. So what he did is he did a number |
| 0:13.0 | of tests, and he used two different self-driving cars. And he wanted to see how much he could |
| 0:19.0 | do to obscure the car's vision and if he could mess up both. |
| 0:24.3 | So here's one of the tests where he's got a mannequin of a child in the road. |
| 0:28.4 | And then he's covering the road with fog to obscure the car's view. |
| 0:32.8 | So here's how both cars did. |
| 0:34.7 | I can no longer see that there's a kid through this fog. |
| 0:38.1 | Yeah, guaranteed LIDAR stops. |
| 0:41.8 | Guaranteed FSD doesn't. |
| 0:43.5 | Also, a human is not going to get this right. |
| 0:46.6 | But nobody can see through fog except for it's going to hit it. |
| 0:50.5 | Yeah, as would a human. |
| 0:52.2 | Any of us driving that car would have hit the kid. |
| 0:54.2 | Great. The endorsement here, just before we move on, is I us driving that car would have hit the kid. Great. |
| 0:54.5 | The endorsement here, just before we move on, is I think now every car should have LIDAR because |
| 0:58.3 | that, as a parent, I love to see what LIDAR did. |
| 1:02.9 | This week in Startups is brought to you by NetSuite, the number one cloud financial system |
| 1:07.7 | bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR into one |
| 1:11.0 | platform, giving you one source of truth. Download the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning for free |
| 1:16.1 | at net suite.com slash twist. Heratio. Customer experience can make or break your business. Horatio provides |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -9 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jason Calacanis, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jason Calacanis and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.