Intro

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

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Lightfield https://lightfield.app

Today's show:

A hedge fund just blew up shorting SaaS stocks. In turns out, the software companies that went all in on AI are bouncing back. Figma's CEO — still riding high on strong revenue — forfeited roughly $46 million in stock awards to ease investor nerves. Twilio posted its strongest quarter in years. Airbnb's CEO credits AI as the single biggest factor in the company's incredible turnaround.

Jason and Lon break down what's separating the winners this earnings season from the companies that are falling behind.

PLUS we're chatting with Bluecore Energy CEO and founder Kofi Asante about his plan to power ports, and one day AI data centers, with small, floating nuclear reactors.

AND we're kicking off the TWiST Weight Loss Challenge! Co-host Lon and Jason's brother, Jamie, are both starting GLP-1s. We'll track their progress and follow along as they attempt to collect $15,000 EACH in prize money.

Guest

Kofi Asante on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kofiasante1/

Bluecore Energy: https://www.bluecore.energy/

Jamie Calacanis on X: https://x.com/CalacanisJamie

Relevant Links

Bloomberg: Figma CEO forfeits $46M: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-05/figma-ceo-forfeits-46-million-in-stock-after-share-decline

Twilio announces second quarter 2026 results: https://investors.twilio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/twilio-announces-second-quarter-2026-results

TechCrunch: Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson buys The Onion: https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/26/area-man-twilio-co-founder-jeff-lawson-buys-the-onion

Chesky: Airbnb will spend a lot more on AI: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/07/chesky-airbnb-ai-earnings.html

"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unreasonable-Hospitality-Remarkable-Giving-People/dp/0593418573

The Times: Meet the unreasonable hospitality master who inspired "The Bear": https://www.thetimes.com/magazines/the-sunday-times-magazine/article/will-guidara-hospitality-the-bear-tkgzqz33w

Port of Long Beach partnership on nuclear-powered shipping: https://gcaptain.com/port-of-long-beach-marad-launch-first-u-s-partnership-on-nuclear-powered-shipping/

Reuters: ByteDance targets mega AI model: https://www.reuters.com/technology/bytedance-targets-mega-ai-model-nearing-anthropics-mythos-ft-reports-2026-08-07/

Axios: OpenAI says its AI agents breached its own systems before Hugging Face: https://www.axios.com/2026/08/06/openai-hugging-face-black-hat

Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House: https://franklloydwright.org/site/ennis-house/

Dwell: Why "The Studio" built a faux Frank Lloyd Wright HQ: https://www.dwell.com/article/the-studio-apple-tv-filming-locations-production-design-frank-lloyd-wright-john-lautner-97c68081

"Predators" documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibVZkvpAJjI

A24 "Primetime" trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fHXyqQOKL8

Alex Honnold free solos Taipei 101: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/sport/alex-honnold-taipei-101-free-solo-netflix-intl-hnk

Harmonic.ai: https://harmonic.ai/

Ro.co: http://ro.co/twist

Timestamps:

0:00 Figma, Twilio & Airbnb earnings: who's winning at AI?

9:50 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.

11:32 The real cost of stock-based compensation

17:38 Kofi Asante of Blue Core Energy joins the show

19:47 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST

20:51 What is a small modular reactor (SMR)?

26:00 Floating nuclear reactors for ports and data centers

29:47 Lightfield - Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you — it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at https://lightfield.app

31:56 Nuclear waste, submarine risks, and public perception

42:41 The generational shift in how we think about nuclear

48:19 ByteDance is training a 10 trillion parameter model

53:47 When AI models plan heists: the Hugging Face caper

58:02 Jason's Roko weight loss competition

1:11:38 Off duty: To Catch a Predator, Alex Honnold, and comedy

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