Tesla vs. Mark Rober, Google’s $32B M&A Bet, & XRP’s SEC Victory | E2100
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Tesla FSD drama, Google’s massive $32B cybersecurity bet, and XRP’s SEC victory. Jason, Lon, and Alex break down the internet firestorm over Mark Rober’s viral Tesla test, why Google’s Wiz acquisition could spark a new M&A wave, and what the SEC dropping its case against XRP means for crypto’s future.
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode Teaser(1:27) Show intro(2:01) Jason's skiing trip and Tesla stock banter(3:00) Criticism of Democratic party’s approach(5:44) Discussion of Mark Rober's Tesla and lidar video and autopilot vs FSD(8:00) Mark Rober's response and debate over his relationship with lidar CEO(9:56) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist(11:02) Further criticisms and analysis of Rober's video and audience expectations(19:41) Suggestion for Rober to redo the test and video title accuracy(20:07) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!(21:38) Accountability and public reaction to Rober's video(25:00) Potential fallout, personal consequences, and stock impact(29:58) AdQuick - For TWiST listeners - AdQuick is waiving their fee on your first campaign. Visit https://www.adquick.com/twist(31:18) Personal investments and conflicts of interest(33:25) Wiz acquisition and implications for M&A market(37:28) Calculation of returns and LP impact(40:38) Benefits of M&A for society and antitrust concerns(43:27) Examples of market cornering, price gouging, and cloud computing(49:29) XRP and SEC lawsuit update and implications(56:29) Proposed regulations for crypto projects and Trump coin(1:00:21) The need for clear crypto regulations and potential for new projects
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Links from the show:
Mark Rober’s Philip Defranco interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1htfqXyX6M
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
Thank you to our partners:
(9:56) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist(20:07) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!(29:58) AdQuick - For TWiST listeners - AdQuick is waiving their fee on your first campaign. Visit https://www.adquick.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 | On Monday, we talked about this video that went viral. |
| 0:04.8 | There is a YouTuber. |
| 0:05.9 | He's incredibly popular. |
| 0:08.1 | He did this video. |
| 0:09.7 | Since we talked about it, there's like very granular things that have been discovered. |
| 0:14.8 | Tesla community really poured over this video and found a lot of issues. |
| 0:18.7 | He's friends with the CEO of this LIDAR company that's been |
| 0:22.4 | established. He's set on social media. He's good friends with them and he raised money with them for a |
| 0:27.2 | charity. We've not established that they're good friends. We've not, that's a, that's a pure rumor. He says, |
| 0:31.7 | they know each other. They, but no, I think in the're good friends. Good friends is editorializing. |
| 0:38.7 | Are you friends with him or something along? Why are you keep interrupting me when I just |
| 0:41.7 | try to finish the sentence here? This weekend startups is brought to you by Gusto. |
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| 0:52.5 | free when you run your first payroll at gusto.com slash twist. Northwest Registered Agent. Starting your business should be simple. With |
| 0:59.8 | Northwest Registered Agent, you can form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 |
| 1:03.8 | minutes. From LLCs to trademarks, domains to custom websites, they've got you covered. |
| 1:08.7 | Get more privacy, more options, and more done. |
| 1:13.5 | Visit northwest registered agent.com slash twist today. |
| 1:15.4 | And AdQuick. |
| 1:20.3 | Easily plan, deploy, and measure out-of-home campaigns as easily as digital ads. |
| 1:23.1 | Visit adquick.com slash twist to learn more. |
| 1:26.8 | And just for Twist listeners, they're waiving their fee on your first campaign. |
... |
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