TikTok Ban, Data Centers in Space… and What's a Vector? | E2073
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 January 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Alex sits down with two CEOs from companies freshly added to the TWIST500. We get a masterclass from Bob van Luijt of Weaviate, on vector databases helping AI and LLMs do what they do. An then Philip Johnston from Lumen Orbit explains his vision of building data centers in space!
*
Timestamps:
(0:00) Alex kicks off the show. (0:58) Supreme Court ruling on TikTok and key market numbers (3:49) Interview introduction with Weaviate and Lumen Orbit CEOs (4:06) Deep dive into vector databases with Weaviate's Bob van Luijt. (8:23) Lemon. TWiST listeners get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (11:35) Exploring deep learning, vector indexing, and Weaviate's open-source significance (18:03) Northwest Registered Agent. For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today.
(19:32) Discussion on vector databases use cases and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) (27:17) Weaviate's business model, revenue streams, and growth (28:12) Vanta. TWiST listeners automate your SOC2 and get $1,000 off at http://www.vanta.com/twist (32:52) The future of AI, agentic architectures, and enterprise adoption (40:50) Lumen Orbit's vision for space-based data centers (42:54) Philip Johnston on the technical aspects of Lumen Orbit (49:12) Satellite demonstrators, technology challenges, and VC interest (53:26) Addressing chip obsolescence and cost advantages in space (56:21) Deployment strategies and competition in the space data center market (1:00:12) Strategies for staying ahead of competition and future plans for Lumen Orbit
*
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 Weaviate: https://weaviate.io/
Check out Lumen Orbit: https://www.lumenorbit.com/
*
Follow Bob:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobvanluijt
*
Follow Philip:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstonphilip/
*
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
*
Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
*
Thank you to our partners:
(8:23) Lemon. TWiST listeners get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (18:03) Northwest Registered Agent. For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today. (28:12) Vanta. TWiST listeners automate your SOC2 and get $1,000 off at http://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
*
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 | Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Twist. This is Alex. Today is Friday. We have a pretty special show for you today. I'm talking to two founders of two of the most interesting private market companies in the world. But before we jump into that, I have a couple of news items because I don't want you to go into the weekend behind on all things that matter. |
| 0:19.0 | This weekend startups is brought to by Limon.io, hire pre-vetted remote developers. |
| 0:24.2 | Get 15% off your first four weeks of developer time |
| 0:26.5 | at lemon.com slash twist. |
| 0:28.5 | Northwest Registered Agent. |
| 0:30.0 | Starting your business should be simple. |
| 0:31.6 | With Northwest Registered Agent, |
| 0:33.0 | you can form your entire business identity |
| 0:34.6 | in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. |
| 0:36.4 | From LLCs to trademarks, domains to custom websites, they've got you covered. |
| 0:40.4 | Get more privacy, more options, and more done. |
| 0:42.8 | Visit northwest registered agent.com slash twist today. |
| 0:45.9 | And Vanta. |
| 0:47.4 | Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal breaker for startups to win new business. |
| 0:50.9 | Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC2 report fast. |
| 0:53.9 | Twist listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at vanta.com slash twist. |
| 0:58.4 | First up, right as we were going to record today, the Supreme Court of the United States |
| 1:03.1 | upheld a law that would force a divesture or ban of TikTok in the U.S. on January 19th. |
| 1:10.0 | This is enormous news. I've only had a chance to skim |
| 1:13.5 | what Scotus wrote, but the gist is that if you were hoping that TikTok was going to be saved |
| 1:18.2 | at the very last moment, uh, probably not. We're going to see some chaos next week. It's going to be a |
| 1:23.0 | big story. Also, don't forget, of course, next week is the inauguration, so it's going to be packed. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -68 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.