Stripe’s Crypto Wallet, M&A Momentum, and Robots Replacing Soul-Crushing Jobs | E2138
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2025
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show:
In this episode of This Week in Startups, @Jason and @Alex break down Stripe’s big bet on crypto wallets with its latest acquisition of Privy, the return of major M&A activity from Meta, DoorDash, and Stripe, and the rapid rise of robotics replacing soul-crushing warehouse jobs. They dive into why today’s toy-like robot arms will become tomorrow’s billion-dollar tools, how stablecoins are quietly transforming fintech, and why Disney is going to war with AI platforms over IP theft. A must-watch if you’re building, investing, or just trying to understand where tech is headed next.
Timestamps:
(1:48) Startup Tip: "Find a service you hate and make it better"
(9:23) Why Stripe wants crypto wallet company Privy
(10:09) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(15:46) Klarna: The New Rent-a-Center?
(20:00) Superpower - Visit superpower.com/twist to get $50 off your membership. This offer is only for the first 100 twist listeners who sign up.
(26:28) Why M&A is good and Lena Khan was wrong
(30:00) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!
(33:20) Robots are going to make your life better
(42:11) When toys become tools
(46:25) Tesla's on-the-road FSD tests... do they need safety drivers?
(54:13) Jason has the answer for all these AI copyright suits
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Thank you to our partners:
(10:09) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(20:00) Superpower - Visit superpower.com/twist to get $50 off your membership. This offer is only for the first 100 twist listeners who sign up.
(30:00) Northwest Registered Agent. Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The opportunity to create a Jedi image with you as a customer is Disney's and Disney's alone. |
| 0:07.2 | And the fact that you can make a Jedi version of somebody on one of these services is because they ingested Disney's IP. |
| 0:15.9 | Yes. |
| 0:16.7 | Here's an example of that. |
| 0:17.7 | They didn't train it, by the way. |
| 0:20.2 | They stole it. They stole it. |
| 0:22.0 | They stole it. |
| 0:23.0 | They took it without permission. |
| 0:25.4 | Yep. |
| 0:26.0 | That's stealing. |
| 0:27.3 | You can't steal people's IP. |
| 0:31.7 | So if somebody wants to create Shrek, Minions, Spider-Man, Darth Vader, it should say, |
| 0:36.9 | we don't have the rights to those characters. |
| 0:39.5 | You can make a green org. |
| 0:42.0 | You could make a samurai with a laser sword, |
| 0:46.7 | but you can't make these other ones. |
| 0:49.0 | Go to Disney. |
| 0:53.7 | This Weekend Startups is brought to you by |
| 0:56.0 | Limmon.io. |
| 0:57.0 | Hire pre-vetted remote developers and get 15% off your first four weeks of developer time at |
| 1:02.0 | lemon. |
| 1:03.0 | com |
... |
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