This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
Jason Calacanis covers startups, tech, markets, media, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. He also interviews the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors, and innovators.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 15, 2021 • 1h 8min
Ask an Angel PLUS Antonio Garcia Martinez vs. Apple with Zach Coelius | E1215
Zach Coelius joins Jason to answer live listener questions (1:09), and then the pair discuss Apple's recent debacle in firing Antonio Garcia Martinez after being pressured by employees (42:43). Check out the pod notes here: https://bitly.com/e1215notes
20 snips
May 15, 2021 • 53min
Product | Scaling Your Startup S2 E5 with Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra & Fitbod’s Jesse Venticique | E1214
This episode reveals the product strategies of two of Jason's high-performing portfolio companies, Superhuman & Fitbod. First, Superhuman's Founder & CEO Rahul Vohra shares his 7 principles for improving products with game design (01:40), then Fitbod's CO-founder and Product Head Jesse Venticique describes how to optimize your product hook (20:08), and to wrap up, Jason brings the two together for a Q&A session (36:44). Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/e1214tnotes
May 13, 2021 • 1h 19min
Oura CEO Harpreet Rai on improving sleep, NBA partnerships, hardware & more PLUS the Instagram Kids debacle | E1213
Jason gives his take on Facebook's Instagram Kids initiative (0:53), then, Ōura's CEO Harpreet Rai discusses how sleep & recovery scores are calculated (25:09), how Oura works with the NBA & enterprise to keep organizations healthy (50:49), and more! Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/e1213tnotes
May 11, 2021 • 51min
Precursor Ventures’ Charles Hudson & Jason give candid feedback on startup pitches at Founder University | E1212
Jason & Charles Hudson from Precursor Ventures take 8 pitches from founders and give feedback on how the pitches were structured (13:10) and their business models (38:48). Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/twist1212
May 7, 2021 • 1h 7min
Facebook’s Oversight Board rules on Trump ban plus how to reverse engineer TAM & more | E1211
Jason covers the Facebook Oversight Board's decision on Trump (15:49), gives a potential solution for bad actors on social media that are of public consequence (39:25), provides a concrete way to reverse engineer TAM (55:00), and more!
May 6, 2021 • 1h 11min
Fundraising | Scaling Your Startup S2 E4 with Density’s Andrew Farah and SoleSavy’s Dejan Pralica | E1210
Two startup CEOs share their approach to fundraising, Andrew Farah explains the strategy he used to raise $100M for Density (03:58), Dejan simplifies his community-forming principles for SoleSavy (38:27), and both give tactical lessons from the mistakes they made along the way (46:23)! Deck: https://bit.ly/3b8gz8g
May 5, 2021 • 57min
Crafter’s Morgan Spenla on delighting makers with memberships, materials, and a marketplace | E1209
Morgan Spenla shares why her company Crafter delivers a wonderful experience to makers (01:06), how they monetize (15:04), why she hires customer support from Starbucks (48:07), and more!
May 5, 2021 • 48min
Breaking down Basecamp’s tumultuous week, politics at work & more | E1208
Jason weighs in on Basecamp's ban of political discussion at work (10:57), the ensuing employee exodus (22:40), shares his policy for his companies (26:32), answers a listener's question about how to surround yourself with great people (40:09), and more! Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/e1208Tnotes
Apr 30, 2021 • 53min
How Tiger Global is outpacing VC with better, faster, cheaper, capital ft. Founders Fund’s Everett Randle | E1207
Tiger Global, a crossover hedge fund, is moving at an unprecedented speed and scale in venture capital. Everett Randle of Founder's Fund joins Jason to break down Tiger Global's strategy, discuss the implications for the investing ecosystem (13:14), explain his "Walmart of VC firms" mental model (24:42), and more! Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/E1207Tnotes
Apr 29, 2021 • 54min
Sales | Scaling Your Startup S2 E3 with GRIN’s Brandon Brown and LeadIQ’s Mei Siauw | E1206
A high-functioning sales machine is a way to predictably scale revenue quickly. Two 8-figure B2B SaaS CEOs share the lessons they've learned from building effective sales teams including how to create an effective sales motion (2:49), structure a sales pod (12:00), hire a great VP of sales (15:10), train SDRs into AEs (28:55), deal with average performers (47:54), and more! Slide Deck Slide Deck: http://bit.ly/SYS-S2E3-Deck
