August 5, 2025
Lina Khan’s Figma victory lap, Meta’s Superintelligence Team, BYD mega car-carrier video & MORE | E2160
This Week in StartupsAbout this episode
Today’s show: Jason and Alex are running down the biggest tech, startup, and business stories of the day on a brand-new Monday TWIST.Which countries are leading the AI race, based on academic papers? Why Jason thinks covert agencies are spying on Meta’s superintelligence team. Lina Khan’s taking a victory lap on the Figma IPO but what did she REALLY accomplish during her Biden administration tenure? PLUS, why we’re bringing Founder University to the MENA region. All that and MORE on a packed episode! Find out why we’re the #1 podcast for startups and founders. Timestamps: (0:00) Why Jason is attending more TV poker tournaments (4:02) Did you know Founder University is headed to MENA? Calling all Riyadh founders. (10:01) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (11:27) Show Continues… (19:52) Oracle - Try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at https://www.oracle.com/twist (21:01) Why Jason doesn’t think Lina Khan deserves her Figma IPO victory lap. (23:17) Jason thinks Figma is overpriced: how quickly could a rival build a competitor? (27:53) For an investor, there’s a huge difference between a home run and a GRAND SLAM. (30:42) Monarch Money - Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com/TWIST (31:55) Show Continues… (40:59) Why Jason thinks covert agencies are spying on Meta’s global Superintelligence Team… (50:43) Which countries are leading the AI race in terms of research? Producer Claude helps with the answer. (57:12) Fact-checking the viral BYD TikTok: can their self-driving cars really drive themselves off the ship? (59:52) Jason and Alex check out some of their dream cars 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: 10:01) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (19:52) Oracle - Try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at https://www.oracle.com/twist (30:42) Monarch Money - Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com/TWIST 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