TWIST News: xAI's massive $6B raise, the startups building our drone future & TWIST500 | E1957
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2024
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Week in Startups is brought to you by…
LinkedIn Ads. To redeem a $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups
Vanta. Compliance and security shouldn't be a deal-breaker for startups to win new business. Vanta makes it easy for companies to get a SOC 2 report fast. TWiST listeners can get $1,000 off for a limited time at http://www.vanta.com/twist
DevSquad. Most dev agencies only offer developers. Why? Because product management is hard. Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at http://devsquad.com/twist.
*
Todays show:
Jason and Alex discuss xAI raising $6B (2:07), the TWiST500 (30:11), the startups building our drone future (39:55), North Korean tech talent taking American remote tech jobs (55:50), and more!
*
Timestamps:
(0:00) Jason and Alex kick off the show
(2:07) xAI raised $6B series B
(10:03) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups
(11:30) The evolution of smartphone adoption over time
(19:08) Global Internet users from 2005-2023
(26:06) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist
(26:57) The control over silicon and Apple’s move switch from Intel
(30:11) TWiST500 announcement
(38:24) DevSquad - Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at http://devsquad.com/twist
(39:55) Armed robot dogs, drone warfare, and the startups building our drone future
(55:50) North Korean nationals taking American remote tech jobs
*
Links and articles from show:
https://www.twz.com/sea/rifle-armed-robot-dogs-now-being-tested-by-marine-special-operatorshttps://news.crunchbase.com/ai/defense-military-ai-tech-startups-vc-funding-anduril-shield-ai/?utm_source=cb_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20230703
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/21/north-korea-it-workers-us-hiring
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273018/number-of-internet-users-worldwide
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/26/china-robot-gun-dog-military-cambodia
https://www.allencontrolsystems.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMnkqY98Cyo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igjcW39T4k
*
Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
*
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/
*
Follow Jason:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
*
Thank you to our partners:
(10:03) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups
(26:06) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist
(38:24) DevSquad - Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at http://devsquad.com/twist *
Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
*
Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis
*
Follow TWiST:
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
*
Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | All right, everybody, welcome back to this week and startups. |
| 0:02.4 | I'm your co-host now, Jason Kellicanus. |
| 0:04.8 | You can follow me on Twitter at Jason. |
| 0:06.7 | And with me is Alex Wilhelm. |
| 0:08.7 | Great job on this week in Tech this week, |
| 0:10.8 | and I heard you on this week in Tech Twit. |
| 0:12.8 | Thank you sir. |
| 0:13.3 | Leo Leport Show where I, if I'm being totally honest, |
| 0:16.5 | got the idea for the name of this show |
| 0:18.7 | and took a lot of notes from Leo, |
| 0:21.0 | who is in fact the world's greatest moderator welcome back to the show |
| 0:24.9 | Alex yeah actually I think the first time you and I met was actually at this |
| 0:29.4 | week in tech about 17 decades ago but Leo's been getting people together for a long time. |
| 0:35.6 | The good news is we have this week and startups we are going to be digging into our |
| 0:38.9 | core topic and on the show today we have the new kid on the AI block we shall talk about |
| 0:44.7 | X-A-I's six billion-dollar funding round I think they're calling to series B that |
| 0:50.1 | seems to stretch the definition slightly but but we'll get into it. |
| 0:53.0 | Then Jason wants to talk about robot dogs with guns, |
| 0:56.2 | and this is actually a conversation about drones, |
| 0:58.6 | believe it or not. |
| 0:59.2 | We'll get into defense tech, American dynamism, |
| 1:01.6 | and what's good. |
... |
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.