meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
This Week in Startups

Naval’s $500 VC fund, the Maduro Polymarket scandal, and NYT defends theft and murder | E2280

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

Technology

4.21.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

LinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twist

Today’s show:

It’s a News and Off-Duty weekend roundup!

AngelList’s USVC fund is open to anyone with $500, but it’s getting pushback on social media. Do the critics have a point?

A Special Forces soldier made $409K betting on the military’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Is the world just a big casino now?

And a NYT podcast defends shoplifting and explores “social murder.” Find out why Jason says they crossed the line.

Plus: Why you should teach your kids about investment and more, Off-Duty streaming and book recommendations.

Related Links

USVC: https://usvc.com/

AngelList: https://www.angellist.com/

Naval Ravikant on X: https://x.com/naval

“Don’t Listen to the Peanut Gallery; USVC is a Watershed Moment” by Hari Raghavan: https://x.com/haridigresses/status/2047503944839016681

@Covered_Call USVC tweet: https://x.com/covered_call/status/2047020060900733306

Forge Global: https://forgeglobal.com/

Calm: https://www.calm.com/

Full DOJ indictment of Gannon Ken Van Dyke: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-soldier-charged-using-classified-information-profit-prediction-market-bets

NYT “The Opinions” podcast: “The Rich Don’t Play by the Rules. So Why Should I?” https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000010849055/the-rich-dont-play-by-the-rules-so-why-should-i.html

Hasn Piker on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hasanabi

New Yorker: Jia Tolentino: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/jia-tolentino

NYT: Nadja Spiegelman: https://www.nytimes.com/by/nadja-spiegelman

Jia Tolentino on X: https://x.com/jiatolentino

Garry Kasparov on X: https://x.com/kasparov63

Prof G Media: https://www.profgmedia.com/

Kids Investment Club: https://www.kidsinvestmentclub.com/

Time stamps:0:00 Intro

1:18 Naval's $500 VC Fund Explained

5:54 Should You Trust Critics With 2K Followers?

7:21 Learn By Betting — Jason's Philosophy

10:10 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

12:30 The Maduro Polymarket Scandal

13:28 Should the Military Bet on Missions?

19:55 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist

29:32 NYT Defends Theft & "Social Murder"

30:28 There Is No Moral Equivalence

33:41 The Nepo Baby Behind the Article

35:42 Prof G's "Resist & Unsubscribe" Movement

37:54 Walk The Walk — Hasan, Bernie & Performative Outrage

44:49 Teaching Kids About Money

48:21 The Rich Get Richer & The Poor Stay Poor

Off Duty Recommendations

“The Complete Maus” by Art Spiegelman: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Maus-Art-Spiegelman/dp/0679406417

“Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Bets-Making-Smarter-Decisions/dp/0735216355

“Queen of Chess” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pmJgtLKBXg

Greenlight app: https://greenlight.com/

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:

X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

v

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is disgraceful.

0:01.3

You have an obligation to think through what you say. Crazy and deranged behavior that's all being bundled together and violence towards individuals who disagree with. We live in a democracy. All violence is immoral, as Martin Luther King said, as Jesus said, this is an incredible fail by the New York Times. So are we going off duty or you have a news story or two you on my comment on. I got one news story. I feel like people are going to want to hear your thoughts about this.

0:22.9

Is this Hassan on New York Times?

0:25.0

Oh, we're doing that in off duty?

0:25.9

We can talk about that again. We can talk about that some more if you want to. Sure. Lute maxing. I know you're a big fan of Lute maxing. Angelist has a new product out called USVC.

0:37.0

They're offering exposure to venture investments with a $500 minimum. No accreditation required. The goal is long-term capital appreciation, not traditional liquidity. It's a little bit like venture for normies, venture for kiddos. That's sort of how people are describing it.

0:54.8

There's been a lot, Jason, a lot of discussion over the last 2448 on X about this.

1:01.0

Criticism has been really sharp.

1:03.1

There's a viral thread from a guy named Mario at Covered underscore call.

1:07.5

He's calling this yet another grift in the world of retail accessible VC.

1:12.1

And he says, retail doesn't need access to private markets this badly.

1:15.8

A whole laundry list here.

1:17.6

I'll pull up the tweet so you can see.

1:19.2

So this is AngelList's new USVC, U.S. Venture Capital.

1:24.2

This is an SEC registered fund that allows non-accredited retail investors to invest

1:29.7

in private pre-IPO companies. Correct. And my friend Naval is doing it, Ravacant, who's been on the

1:35.9

program. And so they've got a bunch of portfolio companies in there that people want. The way this

1:43.7

works is these are, I believe they're called closed-end funds.

1:48.3

What they allow you to do is you, instead of paying carry, the two and 20 you hear about venture capital, 20% carry, 2% fees a year.

2:00.2

So if you had a $100 million fund and you turn it into a

2:05.5

$300 million fund in returns, that means you had 200 in profits. The VC would get 20% of the 200,

2:13.7

not the 300, but of the gain. 20% of the 200 is 40 million. So that's what VCs are hoping for. They're hoping to triple your money. You're hoping they triple your money because you would double your money in the stock market. Is the theoretical concept here. Once in a while you get an outlier that pays 5x. Once in a while you get a dud that pays 0.5x. You lose half your money sometimes. You go 10x sometimes, but you're

...

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 2026.