Economic Policies and Startup Growth | 7min snip from This Week in Startups

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Cursor’s $300M ARR, Uber’s FTC Battle, and Office Hours with GoShare | E2116

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CHAPTER

Economic Policies and Startup Growth

This chapter explores the influence of current economic policies on market instability and corporate decision-making. It further highlights the impressive growth of Cursor, an AI tool by AnySphere, and its rapid revenue increase, paralleling trends seen in successful consumer startups.

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Today’s show: Jason, Alex and Lon unpack the FTC’s lawsuit against Uber and what it could mean for subscription UX, break down how AI startup Cursor is growing faster than almost any SaaS company in history, and discuss how dark patterns, consumer trust, and regulatory scrutiny are reshaping product design. They also touch on the future of big tech breakups, share insights from founder Office Hours with GoShare CEO Shaun Savage, highlighting the power of focus, capital, and customer obsession for startups navigating turbulent markets.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Episode Tease(1:21) Jason talks about personal interests, frugality, and TWIST live tour(7:29) Nick Huber's tweet on tariffs and business impact(9:58) NetSuite - Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://www.netsuite.com/twist(11:22) Market uncertainty and paused deals(13:57) Trump's market feedback and tariffs(16:29) Cursor's rapid revenue growth(19:44) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://gusto.com/twist(21:16) Valuation discussion continuation and FTC sues Uber(29:58) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist(31:26) FTC dark patterns and consumer protection(33:23) Founder Friday bracket competition: LifeStack vs MedSimple(43:50) Introduction to GoShare and founder Shaun Savage(45:57) Regulatory challenges in the gig economy and supply chain resilience(57:37) Diversification strategies for GoShare's delivery professionals(1:00:23) Benefits of office hours and brainstorming with portfolio companies(1:01:26) Founder University and Launch Accelerator updates

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Links from episode:

GoShare: https://goshare.co/

Founder University: https://www.founder.university/

Follow Shaun:

X: https://x.com/ShaunSavage19

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

Follow Lon:

X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Alex: