Zoox Crash Fallout, COATUE’s $1B Open Fund, and Office Hours with FusionAds | E2122
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2025
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s show: Jason, Lon & Alex discuss the day’s hottest tech and startup news. Zoox’s robotaxi crash and voluntary recall, COATUE’s innovative open-ended venture fund that could democratize private tech investing, the NSO Group's massive $167M fine for spyware abuse, Uber’s record-setting earnings and in-person work push, and a candid AI wake-up call from Fiverr’s CEO urging employees to embrace automation or fall behind. From regulatory shakeups to funding innovation and the rise of AI productivity, this episode captures the chaos and opportunity of tech in 2025.
Timestamps:
(1:09) Show Intro
(2:43) Will Coatue's new low buy-in fund replace or supplement traditional VC investments?
(9:55) OpenPhone - Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/twist
(13:38) Zoox issues recall: why this might be the best case scenario for self-driving cars.
(20:18) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST
(22:39) Meta wins settlement against NSO: do spyware companies even need to exist?
(25:45) Uber bests expectations in Q1! Why their future is looking bright.
(29:48) Notion - Try it for free today at https://notion.com/twist
(33:10) How scared should we be of AI replacing us? Fiverr's CEO says VERY.
(40:57) In Office Hours, Evan from FusionAds wants to know: how to make clients feel more confident in with AI-generated marketing?
(50:03) The Founder Friday Tournament's Final Four is now... a FINAL FIVE?!
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Links from episode:
Do Things That Don’t Scale: https://paulgraham.com/ds.html
FusionAds: https://www.fusionos.ai/ai-generative-advertising
Follow Evan:X: https://x.com/EG_Fusion
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evangraj/
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:
(9:55) OpenPhone - Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.co
(20:18) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST
(29:48) Notion - Try it for free today at https://notion.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
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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 | as the president of the internet, I'm going to, or as president in, when's the next election, |
| 0:05.7 | 2028? As you're, as J-Cal 2028, I'm signing an executive order that all self-driving cars have to |
| 0:15.0 | publicly release the video within 24 hours of an accident. If there is a person getting hit, |
| 0:21.5 | obviously blur it out if it's too graphic, |
| 0:23.4 | but people should be able to see it with the Freedom of Information Act |
| 0:25.8 | or after seeing it, |
| 0:26.9 | actually, after seeing a disclaimer, |
| 0:28.4 | maybe blurring out the person's face. |
| 0:30.3 | It's, you know, like even if I got hit by a car, |
| 0:32.1 | I would want people to see it to know the truth. |
| 0:33.9 | I'm trying to think about a privacy issue, but you might want to blur out my face and not say my This weekend startups is brought to you by Open Phone. Streamline and scale your customer |
| 0:43.8 | communications with Open Phone. Get 20% off your first six months at openphone.com slash twist. |
| 0:49.5 | Squarespace. Turn your idea into a new website. Go to Squarespace.com slash twist for a free trial. |
| 0:55.3 | When you're ready to launch, use offer code Twist to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. |
| 1:00.4 | And, Notion. |
| 1:02.1 | Notion combines your notes, docs, and projects into one beautifully designed space with AI built right end. |
| 1:07.2 | Try it for free today at notion.com slash twist. |
| 1:09.6 | All right, everybody, welcome back to this week in startups. |
| 1:12.6 | I'm your host, Jason Calcannis, with my co-host here, Lon Harris, and Alex. |
| 1:16.5 | Not Albrecht, that's stagnation. |
| 1:18.4 | Alex Wilhelm. |
| 1:19.1 | Different Alex. |
... |
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