Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon break down a subreddit question: A founder builds 100% of the product, is promised equity—and now he’s being pushed out. We break down exactly what he should do next. Plus, YouTuber Mark Rober’s viral Tesla test gets fact-checked by a small creator, and the results don’t look great for Mark. Finally, TechCrunch gets quietly sold to Regent in what looks like a fire sale. Is this the end of an era for tech media?
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode Teaser(1:25) Jason's memories of Tony Hsieh
(4:09) High stakes poker stories with Tony Hsieh
(7:28) Reflecting on joy and fun in life
(9:45) Atlassian - Head to https://www.atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.(11:46) Founder question from Reddit
(20:12) Fidelity Private Shares℠ - Visit https://fidelityprivateshares.com! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.
(21:52) Subreddit question: Stealth vs. building in public(27:33) Update: Mark Rober's Looney Tunes wall experiment
(31:21) Lemon.io - Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire
(37:50) Lessons from the Mark Rober experiment
(40:24) The future of tech journalism and subscription models
(47:34) Jason’s idea for a gadget museum
(50:12) Updates on CoreWeave and Klarna IPOs
(51:43) Bipartisan bill to amend Section 230
(56:29) Algorithms and their impact on Section 230
(59:00) Global perspectives on online speech and anonymity
(1:00:00) Podcast closing and call for social media engagement
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 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:
(9:45) Atlassian - Head to https://www.atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.
(20:12) Fidelity Private Shares℠ - Visit https://fidelityprivateshares.com! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.
(31:21) Lemon.io - Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire
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
This Week in Startups