IPO Shakeups, NVIDIA’s Big Bets & Must-Know Founder Hacks | E2085 - This Week in Startups

Today’s show: IPO shakeups, big AI moves, and essential founder hacks—this episode covers it all. Jason breaks down Robinhood’s 6X stock surge and his strategy for $HOOD, plus the latest on tech IPOs as Turo pulls out and SailPoint surges. We dive into AI’s open-source battle, with X.ai chasing a $10B raise and DeepSeek challenging Hugging Face. And for founders, Jason shares the startup golden rule you should break for success—plus, a brand-new startup idea he’s willing to fund right now.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason and Alex kick off the show.(1:51) The ‘new’ news cycle(2:17) Calming down during chaotic times(4:29) IPO updates: Turo and SailPoint, private equity, public markets, and M&A(9:37) Rental car business & sharing economy job creation

(9:53) Squarespace. Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST(12:21) Robinhood's financial performance & fintech resurgence(18:08) NVIDIA's investment in WeRide & self-driving technology(20:02) Paddle. Go to https://www.paddle.com/twist to get started with your exclusive listener fee-free period.

(21:28) Cooking, convenience, DoorDash, Uber, CloudKitchens & startup opportunities(25:45) Smart IoT devices & revisiting the mobile convenience stores idea(29:59) Lemon.io . Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist(33:12) XAI's potential funding & AI's impact on consumer behavior(40:49) Revisiting failed startup ideas & founder hacks(47:18) Customer advisory councils: size, incentives, and roles(52:09) Humanoid robots & market competition in the next decade(58:51) OpenAI model selection & user experience(1:00:56) Founder University pitches compilation(1:13:56) Audience question: Addressing criticism on Trump and Elon Musk(1:17:26) Discussion on Palantir, bias, state of journalism, and investigative reporting

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(9:53) Squarespace. Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST(20:02) Paddle. Go to https://www.paddle.com/twist to get started with your exclusive listener fee-free period.

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