Bittensor’s Rise, Meta’s Llama Goes Cloud, & AI Now Writes Your Code | E2119
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Jason, Alex, Lon and Special Guest Mark Jeffrey of Hash Rate, cover the explosive rise of Bittensor, a decentralized AI compute network some are calling the “third great coin” after Bitcoin and Ethereum, explore Meta’s bold move to host its open-source LLaMA models via partnerships with Groq and Cerebras—potentially setting the stage for a future AWS competitor—and unpack shocking revelations from the Wall Street Journal about Meta AI chatbots engaging in inappropriate conversations with underage users. Plus, we explore how AI is now writing up to 30% of code at major tech firms like Google and Microsoft, signaling a radical shift in how software gets built.
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode Teaser(1:28) Introduction to the episode and guests(2:31) Mark Jeffrey's involvement in crypto and Bittensor project(5:06) Bitcoin vs. Bittensor: Stability and efficiency(10:20) Hubspot for Startups - Visit hubspot.com/startups and join the founders who are turning growth challenges into opportunities.(15:16) Governance, staking, and starting a subnet in Bittensor(17:52) Exploring Ready.AI and its impact on the future of AI(20:08) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST(27:17) Trump's influence on crypto regulations and the stablecoin act(30:03) Oracle - Try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at https://www.oracle.com/twist(38:42) AI-driven VC outreach and Alexis Ohanian's advice on cold emailing(45:03) Introducing LayerNext with CEO Buddhika Madduma and customer onboarding challenges(49:04) Ikigai for startups and balancing bespoke work with scalable product development(55:38) Strategies for securing lighthouse customers and the 'bear hug' approach(56:43) Reddit rapid response: Debating the return to office for young professionals(1:04:05) Closing remarks and guest plugs
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
Links from episode:
Hash Rate Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@markjeffrey
LayerNext: https://www.layernext.ai/
r/antiwork: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/
Follow Mark:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjeffrey/
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:
(10:20) Hubspot for Startups - Visit hubspot.com/startups and join the founders who are turning growth challenges into opportunities.
(20:08) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST
(30:03) Oracle - Try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at https://www.oracle.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 | Is there like a chance that like Tether, which is used for according to 60 minutes and Congress and all those hearings used for really dark stuff in the world? |
| 0:10.0 | Terrorists, human traffickers allegedly are using it or maybe confirmed and they've been banned only states. |
| 0:17.7 | Like, is that going to become a legit thing? |
| 0:19.9 | Yeah, I think it will. |
| 0:20.7 | I mean, I don't. And just to, you know, back up. Yeah. Yes, is that going to become a legit thing? Yeah, I think it will. I mean, |
| 0:20.9 | I don't, and just to, you know, backup, yes, Tether has been used for those, I'm sure has been |
| 0:25.5 | used for crimes. Sure. So is, you know, United States dollars in briefcases, right? |
| 0:29.1 | Of course, yeah. By a much larger margin. If we were to look at it, that's, that historically is |
| 0:33.4 | correct because Tether hasn't existed. but today, like, the average criminal. Cryptocurrency is being used between $40 and $50 billion of illicit transactions per year. |
| 0:44.9 | That would be a magnitude less than U.S. dollars. |
| 0:49.0 | This Weekend Startups is brought to you by HubSpot for Startups. Smart founders aren't piecing together |
| 0:54.0 | random tools. HubSpot is the customer platform that thousands of startups use to scale efficiently. |
| 0:58.9 | Get up to 75% off plus three months of perplexity AI for free. Go to HubSpot.com slash |
| 1:04.3 | startups. Squarespace. Turn your idea into a new website. Go to Squarespace.com slash twist for a free trial. |
| 1:10.7 | When you're ready to launch, use offer code twist to save 10% off your first purchase of a website |
| 1:14.4 | or domain. And Oracle. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or OCI is a single platform for your |
| 1:20.8 | infrastructure database application development and AI needs. Save up to 50% on your cloud bill at |
| 1:26.3 | Oracle.com slash twist. All right, everybody, welcome |
| 1:29.1 | back to this week in startups. Very exciting show today. We've got an office hours at the end with |
| 1:33.4 | one of our founders, but we're very lucky to have with us again. Of course, Alex Wilhelm, you know him |
| 1:39.4 | from TechCrunch and cautious optimism, his substack. And Lon Harris is here, original twist co-host, |
| 1:47.3 | and super lucky to have one of my oldest, dearest friends from Web 1.0 in the 90s, Mark Jeffrey. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 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.