5,000+ Tech Workers Laid Off This Week. It's Just The Beginning. | E2286
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2026
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
IM8 Health - https://IM8health.com/TWIST
Every - Every.io
Sentry - https://Sentry.io/TWIST
Banks don’t want to hand over their data to AI labs. So David Moscatelli built a $250,000 box that runs AI on-prem. He already has 1,600 pre-orders. On today’s episode of TWiST, Jason and Alex sit down with the Go Abacus founder and Yanez's Jose Caldera to unpack how regulated industries are getting AI without the cloud, why Bittensor subnet 54 is incentivizing miners to attack identity systems, and why Cloudflare just laid off 20% of its workforce in the same week it raised guidance. The show closes with Jason explaining what it means to build an AI-first startup, and how workers can derisk their future employment!
Guest Links:
Bittensor Subnet 54 on TAOstats
LAUNCH Links:
Founder University Japan application portal
News Links:
Cloudflare lays off 20% of its staff
Coinbase cuts 14% of its staff
Block post on how it is rebuilding its company
Block’s earnings, including its raised guidance
Anthropic’s massive upcoming funding round
WHOOP’s new on-demand clinicians
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction: Jason in Brooklyn, Knicks playoffs
2:30 Go Abacus joins: AI infrastructure for regulated industries
3:25 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
4:00 The Go1: 2,000-user on-prem AI appliance
7:04 Pricing the Go1: How far does $250,000 go?
7:24 1,600 orders and the hardware delivery challenge
10:14 Sentry - New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST
20:23 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io
27:22 Chicago tech scene and in-office culture
30:09 IM8 Health: Start feeling like your best self every day. Go to https://IM8health.com/twist and use the code TWiST to get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order.
35:11 Yanez joins: How to prove personhood and uniqueness
38:32 How biometric capture and bio-keys work
40:05 Agent delegation: proving humans authorized AI agents
44:19 Bittensor Subnet 54 and incentivizing adversarial miners
47:11 Founder University Japan Cohort 2 applications open
49:15 Tech layoffs: Cloudflare cuts 20%, Coinbase cuts 14%, Block raises guidance
1:02:14 Anthropic's $50B round at $900B pre-money
1:04:22 WHOOP adds on-demand clinicians
1:06:42 Federalism, state-level regulation, and AI policy
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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 | So here's the problem. You have banks, credit unions, hospitals that want to use AI, but they're not |
| 0:06.6 | interested in sending their data to any of the public AI providers. They say, how do we use AI, |
| 0:12.7 | but locally within our network? So none of our data leaves our infrastructure. You can make your |
| 0:17.9 | own decision. For me, if you look at the record of some of the executives, |
| 0:21.1 | that some of the companies, it might make one wonder. And if there's only one way to really know |
| 0:26.8 | if your information is being shared or not, which is to not share it. 25, 30 days ago, and we have |
| 0:32.4 | over 1,600 orders of this device. I wouldn't trust Biden or Kamala or Trump or J.D. Vance with AI regulation |
| 0:40.2 | for everything. Some God Kings in Washington, D.C., who are on the grift, who are getting paid by |
| 0:45.8 | these lobbyists. That system's broken. The executive friends, to your point of that executive |
| 0:49.6 | power, control over what AI models I can use. Terrifies me to no end, Jason. |
| 0:55.2 | This week in startups is brought to you by IMH Health. |
| 0:58.7 | Start feeling like your best self every day. |
| 1:01.2 | Go to IM8Health.com slash twist and use the code Twist to get a free welcome kit, |
| 1:06.1 | five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order. |
| 1:09.8 | Every for all your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes, or other back office |
| 1:15.9 | administration needs, visit every.io. |
| 1:19.5 | And Sentry. |
| 1:20.5 | Your team should be focused on shipping features, not chasing down bugs. |
| 1:24.4 | New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to century.io slash twist |
| 1:29.8 | and use the code twist. All right, everybody, welcome back to Twist for May 8th, 2026. I am at my mom |
| 1:37.0 | and dad's Brownstone, got to see them for the full week, got to take in four Knicks games, |
| 1:43.5 | Atlanta, New York, New York, and tonight I'll be in Philly, or when you're listening to this, I will have been in Philly. Acquired Courtside for two out of four. It's a really hard thing to do these days, but I am really excited for my Nix, and I'm really excited for today's episode. Yeah, Knicks are up to zero over the Sixers, right? Yeah, and it takes four wins. You play |
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