Apple’s App Store Loss, AI Persuasion, and an Interview with Tyler Denk of Beehiiv | E2120
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Jason, Lon, and Alex break down a loaded week in tech: Apple’s 27% App Store “link-out” fee gets shut down by a judge—unlocking margin for startups and slashing CAC; AI bots on Reddit’s r/ChangeMyView are now 6x more effective than humans at changing minds, signaling a seismic shift in online discourse; and Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk joins to discuss building in public, rapid product iteration, and the irony of being critiqued like a market leader for innovating too fast. The big takeaway? AI is evolving fast, gatekeepers are falling, and founders who build through chaos are best positioned to win.
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode Teaser(1:20) Introduction and venture capital power law(4:14) Economic data and labor market trends(8:19) Mimicking trades and Dub's Series A funding
(10:05) Kyte - TWIST Listeners: Go to https://kyte.com/ and download the Kyte app today. Use code JASON to save 10% on your first rental.(14:48) Apple App Store ruling and startup implications
(19:44) Atlassian - Head to https://www.atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.(21:44) App store fees and antitrust concerns(27:34) Fivetran's acquisition and Lena Khan's impact on VC(29:58) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups(32:02) Venture capital scenarios and M&A future(37:23) Jason’s Starbucks tweet and union perspectives(45:02) Reddit's AI experiment and online discourse(48:16) Interview with Tyler Denk from Beehiiv(49:52) Beehiiv overview and customer base(51:02) Beehiiv's revenue strategy and Boost feature(57:06) Balancing revenue streams and feature quality(1:04:30) MRR growth and founder transparency(1:08:05) Brand marketing impact and staying focused(1:11:44) Hiring challenges and platform comparisons(1:14:01) Twist 500 initiative update
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Links from episode:
Beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/
Follow Tyler:X: https://x.com/denk_tweets
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:
(10:05) Kyte - TWIST Listeners: Go to https://kyte.com/ and download the Kyte app today. Use code JASON to save 10% on your first rental.
(19:44) Atlassian - Head to https://www.atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.
(29:58) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups
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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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 | I would say I need to coin this phrase. |
| 0:03.3 | I don't know what this framework is, but there's something that I have observed where |
| 0:06.6 | we have launched so many features that are totally unique to us that other platforms that we |
| 0:11.0 | compete with just don't have. |
| 0:12.6 | But if we launch this feature and let's say it's four out of ten, like maybe there's some |
| 0:16.2 | bugs, it's like not as smooth. |
| 0:18.0 | People ding us and be like, oh, I don't like this platform because this |
| 0:21.5 | one obscure feature isn't that good, although it's not offered by any other platform. |
| 0:26.3 | I don't know how to like better phrase that. |
| 0:27.9 | I got this. |
| 0:29.7 | Do you know DJ Khalid? |
| 0:31.9 | Yeah, of course. |
| 0:32.8 | Okay. |
| 0:33.0 | So he has that album like suffering from success when he like does the thing. |
| 0:36.3 | That's what you're doing you're building so much stuff that you're going so far ahead of competitors that if you stumble a little bit |
| 0:41.2 | people think you're tripping even though they're not in the picture this week in startups is brought to |
| 0:46.8 | you by kite looking to get out of the city rent a car with kite kite kite kite delivers rental cars to your |
| 0:52.7 | door no counter no lines no lines, no hassle. |
| 0:55.1 | Download the Kite app today and use code Jason to save 10% on your first rental. |
| 0:59.3 | Atlassian. |
| 1:00.1 | From MVP to IPO, Atlasian for startups provides your team the right tools to plan, track, and collaborate on work. |
| 1:05.8 | Head to atlacian.com slash startups slash twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months and |
... |
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