This Week in Startups Discord’s Power Move, Slate’s Modular EVs & the “Act for Private Gain” | E2117
Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon break down today’s top tech and startup stories — from Slate Auto’s customizable $25K EV truck to Discord’s major leadership shakeup ahead of a potential IPO. They also cover Uber’s self-driving push with Volkswagen, Perplexity AI’s aggressive growth moves, and why value-driven products are winning in a tough economy. Plus, Alex sits down with Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun to unpack how they grew from 5K to 10K customers — and why fixing internet networking could spark the next huge wave of innovation.
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Jason, Lon and Alex kick off the show!
(3:26) Introduction and features of Bezos-backed EV truck company, Slate
(7:55) Market impact and value proposition of Slate's EV trucks
(9:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups
(14:04) EV features and market potential discussion
(17:42) Discord CEO steps down and IPO prospects
(20:19) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(24:00) Uber and Volkswagen's self-driving car partnership
(28:39) Superpower - The best founders know: better health = better business. Visit http://superpower.com/twist to skip the waitlist.
(30:00) Pace of self-driving car adoption and regulation
(37:20) Butterfly Effect secures Benchmark investment
(38:37) Perplexity and Motorola Razr partnership
(43:12) Jason's experience with Light Phone
(45:39) New York Times and Ziff Davis lawsuits against OpenAI
(50:09) Nonprofit structures and OpenAI's mission issues
(54:01) Founder Friday: Pitchfire and TACTUN's two-year plans
(1:02:28) Introduction to Tailscale and Avery Pennarun
(1:10:17) Tailscale's enterprise adoption
(1:21:13) Current Internet networking issues*
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Links from episode:
Check out Tailscale: https://tailscale.com/
Check out Slate vehicles: https://www.slate.auto/en
Check out Not For Private Gain:https://notforprivategain.org/
Check out the Light Phone: https://www.thelightphone.com/
Check out Oregon lawmakers article: ****https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/04/oregon-lawmakers-to-decide-whether-big-tech-should-pay-to-support-local-journalism.html
Check out Manus: https://manus.im/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
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Thank you to our partners:
(9:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups(20:19) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist(28:39) Superpower - The best founders know: better health = better business. Visit http://superpower.com/twist to skip the waitlist.
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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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