This Week in Startups

Jason and Molly cover Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes guilty verdict (1:47), how even socialists have admitted that Amazon is the best place many people have ever worked (40:08). To wrap they dig into Biden’s new sanctions against China the implications from decoupling our economies (56:16).

Jason and Molly cover how QuickCommerce startup JOKR lost $159 per order in the US in August (1:54), the state of startup valuations (25:57), Jason's case of COVID & the state of testing (32:00), OpenSea freezing over $2M worth of stolen NFTs (52:28) and they wrap with quick recap of the latest chapter of Web 3 Twitter beef featuring AirBnB CEO Brian Chesky and Box Founder Aaron Levie (58:24).

Jason hosts "The 2021 TWISTY Awards" where we give out 10 awards for top podcast moments from this year including: the most surprisingly awesome guest (02:17), best chemistry (04:48), best live moment (23:43), most awkward moment (28:51), funniest moment (36:51), best guest (45:19) and more! At the end he has a short "after-party" discussion with producers (50:58). Thank you for listening, this is our last planned episode of 2021.

Jason is joined by This Week in Startups' new co-host Molly Wood for a news show. First they cover why Molly joined the TWiST team (1:24), then they dig into the Web3 wars erupting on Twitter (24:00) and break down Rivian's Q3 earnings (51:45). Producer's note: this is our only podcast this week

Praying for Exits, the top meme account in Venture Capital joins to discuss being a pseudonymous commentator (01:13), why VCs spend too much time brand building (12:37), entitlement in tech (23:47), assessing founders and companies qualitatively and quantitatively (35:46), crazy VC stories (52:10) plus so much more!

First Jason covers Melania Trump launching an NFT series (02:27) and Reddit just filing to go public(13:10). Then, Twitter's Tony Haile joins (24:14) to talk about selling his startup Scroll to Twitter, helping lead Twitter's product team (37:07), Twitter's roadmap and more.

First Jason covers the Mayo clinic's promising new signs for mRNA cancer treatment (02:02), Google's firm vaccine policy (07:41) and the Better.com CEO stepping away after last week's meltdown (16:39). Then, Jason brings on three founders he has invested in and chats with them about their company: SupporTrends co-founder Oliver Rowen on customer insights (25:23), Wearwell co-founder and CEO Erin Houston on sustainable fashion (37:11), and PaidBack co-founder Amber Masters on budgeting and paying off debt (50:15).

All news show! First Jason gives an Elizabeth Holmes trial update and reveals the key point the prosecution missed (2:12). Then he covers, Nike acquires an NFT company (14:17), $USDT becoming an official currency of a shadow government in Myanmar (31:55), how “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips made $150M on the trilogy (36:58) and the Japanese billionaire who delivered UberEats to the international space station (44:55).

First, Jason breaks down the math of why Peloton might be undervalued (3:23). Then, the founder and CEO Rad Power Bikes Mike Radenbaugh joins to discuss building a massive ebike company (15:36), the most innovative features, ebike regulation and cites. Then, *spoiler alert* Jason gives his top takeaways from the Succession season three finale recap (01:05:58) and Producer Nick pitches a storyline to work Jason into season four. At the end of the show Jason and Nick discuss the strategy and behind the scenes of producing All-in (01:32:20).

First, Jason plays "Guess the Fake Startup" (1:30). Then, Jason interviews four founders he invested in (12:50): David Park from Jenni.ai about computer copywriting assistants (18:08), Samuel Spitz from Wearloom on aggregating the resale marketplace shopping experience (28:11), Sudhama Bhatia from Track about his premium calendar client (40:35) and Marie Ng from Llama Life on building a time-based productivity tool (51:05). To wrap up the show, we have an "OK Boomer" segment where Producer Rachel talks with Gen Z marketer Erifili Gounari (01:13:25)

First, Jason covers the recent crypto hearings (1:25), then offers a brief potential NFT solution for Adele's ticket scalper problem (16:06). After the news, Jason closes out the 100-point Startup Checklist with ten tips for founders including, lean management (23:19), constant product engagement (43:51), monthly updates (46:30) and more!

All news today. Jason recaps his Art Basel experience (1:55), meeting Beeple, being ultra candid with the JUUL CEO (6:58) and interviewing Cathie Wood & Tiffany Zhong about crypto at 500 Global's Pre-Money conference (17:23). Then, he breaks down the Better.com CEO's 900-person layoff over Zoom (31:36). Forbes Article mentioned: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2021/12/03/investor-cathie-wood-on-bitcoin-why-she-sold-stocks-in-china-and-what-her-firm-is-buying-now/

Geoff Lewis is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at Bedrock Capital. He joins to discuss lessons from entrepreneurship (1:25), why "vibe" is the critical way he assesses founders (11:44), his investment in Praxis, a city-state building company (23:15), his unique answer to the contrarian question (31:17), defense tech, AI and much more.

Crypto is reaching the mainstream, which has major implications for crypto and traditional startups alike. Kruze Consulting COO Scott Orn joins to discuss what regulation and taxes actually apply to crypto (3:17), recent improvements in crypto accounting infrastructure (8:24), appropriately documenting crypto holdings (21:25) and more! With crypto market capitalizations rivaling large cap tech companies, the IRS wants its due. This is a great crash course for properly documenting crypto and avoiding future fines.

First, Jason covers Square's corporate renaming to Block to reflect their broader ambitions (2:11), breaks down the genius of Spotify wrapped (13:15), and gives a nod to Grab's public debut (16:41). Then, Jason is joined by 3 founders who went through the Launch Accelerator, to extract the lessons from the early days of running a company. First is Paul Bloch of Fathom, an AI-enabled podcast search platform (23:03), then Zach Hudson of Deft, a E-commerce search engine (41:58) and finally Liam Gerada of Krepling, a no-code e-commerce platform (54:19).