This Week in Startups

Today’s show: Alex interviews founders from Abacus and Synthesia—two companies leading the charge in vertical AI. Abacus is deploying on-prem LLMs to banks and insurers with a focus on data control, accuracy, and integration with legacy infrastructure. Synthesia just hit $100M ARR by helping 70% of the Fortune 100 turn internal documents into scalable AI video. If you're interested in how...

Today’s show: In this episode, Jason, Alex, and Lon dive into Blue Origin’s all-female celeb spaceflight (yes, Katy Perry sang on reentry), Hugging Face’s unexpected move into robotics, and Jack Dorsey’s wild take that we should “delete all IP law.” Plus, they break down Figure AI’s eye-popping $39B valuation, the risks of SPVs, and what founders and investors can learn from the SPAC boom. As...

Today’s show: We dive into the latest tech and startup news — including Palantir’s bold new fellowship program that challenges the traditional college path, and DoorDash’s rollout of burrito-delivering Coco robots in LA and Chicago. We debut our new segment “Tips from the Trenches,” focused on how to land your first customers, and wrap up with two great Office Hours: BRX.ai (self-healing AI...

Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon talk about stories reshaping the startup world: 70mph drone deliveries are officially live in Dallas, with Zipline and Walmart promising groceries “as the crow flies” in under 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Trump slaps a 125% tariff on China and hints at a global economic shakeup — Jason warns founders to brace for layoffs and bankruptcies unless they’ve got a Plan B and...

Today’s show: Jason and Alex unpack a wild week in tech and the markets — including a fake tweet that moved $4 trillion and Trump’s latest tariff talk. Lon jumps in for another round of Founder Fridays Pitch Madness, where four early-stage startups compete for a spot in the Elite Eight. Plus, Alex chats with Sunny Khamkar, CEO of MenuData, about how AI is revolutionizing the food industry. They...

Today’s show: Jason and Alex dive into the startup world’s latest chaos — from Nasdaq’s slide and Trump’s tariffs to Klarna’s IPO pause and Rippling’s $16B target. They break down what founders really need to know: tightening CIO budgets, longer sales cycles, but easier hiring. Plus, TikTok’s ban gets another delay (with Bezos possibly lurking?). In Office Hours, they chat with two sharp...

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Today’s show: Circle gears up for its IPO and the stablecoin wars heat up, Palantir’s meme stock status gets a reality check, and they riff on a possible Uber + DoorDash merger and whether AI should train on Substack content. They react to Sequoia partner Andrew Reed’s inside take on fund dynamics, laugh at a brutal VC meme, and wrap with “Office Hours” featuring Caylee Harrington, founder of...

Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon cover everything from wild political headlines to big moves in AI and venture. They kick things off with the surprising Trump pardon of Trevor Milton, the disgraced Nikola founder, and break down CoreWeave’s rocky IPO debut. Then, Jason and Alex sit down with Mariano Apodaca, founder of Prosperous AI, to talk about AI tools for negotiating construction and...

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