Is there an AI coding bubble? Plus Meta’s new SlopTok product, Neon’s divisive app shuts down, and more | E2184
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2025
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show:
Factory, a Sequoia-backed producer of AI agents for programming, raised $50 million at a $300 million valuation. So Jason and Alex are wondering… how much capital is TOO MUCH?
We’re going deep on a question that often perplexes founders: How would weigh a HUGE potential market against STIFF pre-existing competition.
PLUS that Neon app that records your calls deleted itself, why AI ISN’T taking away all the radiology jobs yet, how inherent biases impact everyone’s view of the economy, ChatGPT may be getting ads very soon, and MUCH MUCH MORE.
Timestamps:
(0:00) The Neon app: why would anyone let an app record all of their phone calls?
(04:43) Another -slop term… What is THINKSLOP?!
(09:46) .TECH: Say it without saying it. Head to get.tech/twist or your favorite registrar to get a clean, sharp .tech domain today.
(11:25) Why is TikTok US only worth $14 billion?!
(17:10) Wait, why ISN’T AI taking jobs away from radiologists?
(20:06) Public - Take your investing to the next level with Public. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn 4.1% APY on your cash—with no fees or minimums. Start now at public.com/twist
(28:38) How can xAI afford to sell AI to the US gov’t for 42 cents?
(29:37) Alphasense - Get deeper insights into your business with the power of AI search and market intelligence. Start with a free trial at https://www.alpha-sense.com/twist
(33:44) How inherent biases impact everyone’s view of the economy.
(46:29) Why is everyone dunking on Meta’s new SlopTok app?
(53:37) It certainly seems like ChatGPT is going to get ads soon…
(03:49) The first entry in our Gamma Pitch Deck Competition is II off-roading marketplace Where2Wheel
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
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:
- .TECH: Say it without saying it. Head to get.tech/twist or your favorite registrar to get a clean, sharp .tech domain today.
- Public - Take your investing to the next level with Public. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn 4.1% APY on your cash—with no fees or minimums. Start now at public.com/twist
- Alphasense - Get deeper insights into your business with the power of AI search and market intelligence. Start with a free trial at https://www.alpha-sense.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 | When founders see a big tam and competition this rabid, should that push them away from building |
| 0:05.3 | in that space or should have drawn towards building that space? |
| 0:09.4 | You should be drawn to going into that space. |
| 0:12.1 | If a lot of people find a great beach to surf, you probably want to surf that beach, right? |
| 0:17.7 | Because it could get better and better, and people could be underestimating the Tam. So if I told you when sidecar and Lyft were battling it out for ride chairing, should Uber |
| 0:26.6 | join the race, yeah, they should. If I told you before XI had released an LLM and chat GPT and |
| 0:34.6 | Claude had, and Gemini had run away with it. Should XAI jump into the race? |
| 0:39.7 | You might say, no, it's too late. It's never too late. Somebody could start an LLM right now. I know that |
| 0:44.2 | sounds crazy, but if all of a sudden Apple decided this is strategic for us, let's put a hundred |
| 0:50.3 | billion dollars into it and let's double the offers everybody else have and let's find a way |
| 0:54.3 | to put this on every iPhone and we'll design the entire iPhone around the idea of it being an H-100. |
| 0:59.9 | Like, and the idea of building an H-100 competitor and competing with Nvidia. |
| 1:04.2 | Okay, it sounds crazy. |
| 1:05.7 | But if there's a big market, there's always going to be room for innovation. |
| 1:09.9 | This week in startups is brought to you by Alpha Sense. Get deeper insights into your business with |
| 1:16.2 | the power of AI search and market intelligence. Start with a free trial at Alpha-sense.com |
| 1:22.7 | slash twist. Public. You take investing seriously. |
| 1:28.1 | Public does too. |
| 1:29.5 | Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn an industry leading 4.1% APY on your cash with no fees or minimums. |
| 1:37.8 | Learn more at public.com slash twist. |
| 1:42.2 | And dot tech. |
| 1:44.0 | Say it without saying it. Head to get. Dot tech slash twist and dot tech say it without saying it head to get dot tech slash twist or your favorite |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
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.