Cold water for commodity founders

Jason Calacanis rules that copying startup ideas is legal capitalism and says founders need stronger moats than simple software builds.

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This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Deel - deel.com/twist

Grasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twist

Render - render.com/twist

Plaud - Plaud.ai/twist

An AI “holding company” rebuilt dozens of YC Winter ‘26 startups in one weekend. Now we’re bringing the founder responsible into Jason’s Courtroom to defend himself.

PLUS a live demo of Boardy, the AI that acts like a virtual board member and makes crucial introductions. Find out why he gets to have so much agency, how creator Andrew D’Souza used him to raise his own $17 million round, and how this company ever plans to actually make money.

Plus Jason celebrates Apple’s 50th anniversary with a fiery rant about milking the ghost of Steve Jobs… Why OpenAI is acquiring a tech podcast… Jason’s favorite weighted vest for rucking… AND Lon’s Off Duty weekend streaming picks.

Guests

Marik Hazan:⁠ https://x.com/MarikHazan⁠

Feltsense:⁠ https://feltsense.com/⁠

Andrew D’Souza:⁠ https://x.com/andrewdsouza⁠

Boardy:⁠ https://www.boardy.ai/⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 Jason's direction for TWiST and thoughts on legacy media

5:14 Marik of Feltsense joins the show

6:10 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

7:10 Marik's viral YC replicator stunt

9:45 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.

20:39 Grasshopper bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to https://grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account.

21:33 Feltsense founder goes on trial!

25:26 Jason dunks on Bank of America's app

27:59 TBPN acquired by OpenAI

29:28 The All In Podcast is worth $1B!

30:13 Render - Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

33:02 Andrew D'Souza joins the show along with his agent, Boardy!

43:17 So how does Boardy make money?

48:32 Lon is becoming more and more "AI-pilled."

50:41 Tactical/ practical: "If we have data, let's look at data. If all we have are opinions, let's go with mine." -Jim Barskdale, former CEO of Netscape

1:01:00 Tactical/ practical: hire a PR firm to report on your competitors' wrongdoings.

1:02:58 Jason calls out Apple for being DISGRAZIAD!

1:15:09 Lon's TV pick of the week: "Something Very Bad is Going to Happen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMc_pWm7G7o

1:19:52 Become an Angel Investor at https://thesyndicate.com/

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