Founders Should Go Direct, Not Through Press

Jason Calacanis argues founders get better reach and nuance from podcasts and social media than from legacy publications he sees as agenda-driven.

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This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Quo - https://quo.com/TWiST

LinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twist

Iru - https://iru.com/twist

Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist

Today’s show:

Google project manager Shubham Saboo is running 6 AI agents on a Mac Mini that handle all of his side business autonomously, from research, to social posts, to newsletters.

He joins Jason and Lon to walk us through his 5-step framework for designing an efficient AI agent team:

Start with one agent and onboard them like a new hire
Stop Googling fixes; just ask your agent how to use it
Put your agents on fixed schedules
Add shared memory so you don’t have to repeat yourself
Let agents run self-reviews and rewrite their own instructions.

Get the walkthrough to put this entire plan into practice on today’s episode. PLUS fresh demos of the “Minecraft”-inspired virtual workspace MoltWorld and AgentMail, which is Gmail for your AI pals, and Jason explains the thinking behind his viral, controversy-stirring “don’t talk to journalists” tweet.

Follow Shubham: https://x.com/Saboo_Shubham_

“How I Built an Autonomous AI Agent Team That Runs 24/7” on X: https://x.com/Saboo_Shubham_/status/2022014147450614038?s=20

Follow Mike: https://x.com/mihalich1988

MoltWorld: https://moltworld.io/

Follow Haakam: https://x.com/haakamaujla

AgentMail: https://www.agentmail.to/

Jason’s post about talking to journalists: https://x.com/Jason/status/2037573025458016659

NYT responds: https://x.com/NYTimesPR/status/2037648223771263082

Translated Japanese tweets: https://x.com/melonneet40/status/2038020624015315289, https://x.com/rambling_28/status/2038041455999246422

Japanese people singing “Country Roads”: https://x.com/harukaawake/status/2038081269830222259

Trailer for “Nuremberg” (now on Netflix in the US): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvAy9C-bipY

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:24 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!

3:05 We're Claw-pilled once again; it's an all AI Agent showcase

6:15 Google AI PM Shubham Saboo's Top 5 OpenClaw tips

10:14 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST.

13:26 Tip #1 — Onboard your agent like a new hire

17:31 Tip #2 — Talk to your agents constantly

19:02 Tip #3 — Put your agents on a schedule

19:51 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist.

23:41 Tip #4 — Add cross-agent memory

29:33 Tip #5 — Let your agents self-improve

29:51 Iru unifies identity, endpoint security, and compliance into one platform. TWiST listeners get 20% off when they book a demo at https://iru.com/twist!

34:03 Why Jason says founders should avoid journalists

38:24 How biased IS the New York Times?

47:02 DEMO: Co-founder Mike Nosov shows us MoltWorld

51:14 But what's the utility of this?

1:05:15 DEMO: Haakam Aujla presents AgentMail (YC S25)

1:09:59 How does AgentMail make money?

1:17:03 How Grok Translations are creating cross-cultural dialogue on X

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