M&A Mania, Palantir Meme Crash + Office Hours with Hookhub | E2105 - This Week in Startups

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 Hookhub — the Airbnb for RV parking — to talk vanlife, growth, and building in an unsexy market.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Alex and Jason kicks off the show!

(1:29) Palantir's stock and market dynamics

(5:43) Meme stocks and reversion to the mean

(6:57) X and XAI merger

(10:01) Squarespace - TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST

(12:05) M&A trends in tech and AI content acquisitions

(17:22) Valuation strategies for acquisitions

(22:05) Oracle - TWiST listeners can try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at ⁠⁠⁠https://www.oracle.com/twist⁠

(23:31) Circle's IPO and stablecoin regulations

(30:46) Fidelity Private Shares - Visit ⁠https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com⁠! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.

(32:26) Crypto community and anti-money laundering in stablecoins

(37:43) IPO and SPAC updates in tech

(41:20) Deep tech investment risks and lessons from SPACs

(44:03) Hookhub's journey and RV market insights

(49:27) Growth and challenges in RV market

(52:01) Hookhub's social media and content strategy

(58:48) Hookhub's investor pitch and growth strategy

(1:04:11) Van life business model potential

(1:06:16) Sequoia's internal culture and investment strategy

(1:13:03) Sequoia vs. Andreessen Horowitz and VC indexing

(1:15:32) Venture capital humor and closing remarks

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Links from the show:

Hookhub: https://www.hookhub.co/

Follow Caylee:

X: https://x.com/Mariano_APO

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariano-apodaca-45b07a16a/

Follow Alex:

X: https://x.com/alex

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm

Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Thank you to our partners:

(10:01) Squarespace - TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST

(22:05) Oracle - TWiST listeners can try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at ⁠https://www.oracle.com/twist⁠

(30:46) Fidelity Private Shares - Visit ⁠⁠https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com⁠⁠! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman,