Deel’s growth overshadows SpyGate, Claude learned new skills, and the great “momentum is moat” debate | EXXX

Today’s show:

*Deel’s growing fast enough that investors are overlooking the espionage allegations and jumping on board anyway. (LAUNCH now owns a lil taste of Deel, so Jason is on board!)

PLUS is the Mag 7 about to become the Mag 70… Why legendary investor Roelof Botha thinks VC is not an asset class… How startups can use capital as a weapon… AND Anthropic gave Claude more skills, which they hope will help pay their bills.

Timestamps:

(00:01:34) Jason’s excited for ski season and checking his favorite powder app, OpenSnow

(00:04:02) Why Jason’s done with meetings; he’s pulling a Doug Leone!

(00:06:27) Jason can tell the market’s heating up because people are starting to lose their minds.

(00:09:31) How much will global AI tools one day be worth? Alex is crunching the numbers.

(10:00) Miro - Help your teams get great done with Miro. Check out miro.com to find out how!

(00:15:22) PREDICTION: The Mag7 is about to become the Mag70

(20:00) Alphasense - Get deeper insights into your business with the power of AI search and market intelligence. Start with a free trial at https://www.alpha-sense.com/twist

(00:25:36) Deel’s big raise… Why major growth overshadows spying allegations

(30:00) LinkedIn Ads: Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. Launch your first campaign and get $250 FREE when you spend at least $250. Go to http://LinkedIn.com/ThisWeekinStartups to claim your credit.

(00:33:31) Why Roelof Botha says VC is a “return-free risk,” and not an “asset class.”

(00:40:49) The two reasons why VC firms end

(00:44:18) How startups can use capital as a weapon

(00:57:52) Anthropic gave Claude Skills to pay the bills

(01:00:51) Jason’s vision for what Grammarly could become

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com

Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

X: https://x.com/lons

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:

Miro - Help your teams get great done with Miro. Check out miro.com to find out how!

Alphasense - Get deeper insights into your business with the power of AI search and market intelligence. Start with a free trial at LinkedIn Ads: Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today.

Launch your first campaign and get $250 FREE when you spend at least $250. Go to http://LinkedIn.com/ThisWeekinStartups to claim your credit.

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916

Was Silksong Worth the Wait? - NVC 779

Nintendo Voice Chat

Improved On-Ramp and World Design

The AI-powered Podcast Player