Dynamic Pricing Needs Better Agent Access

Christian Van Der Henst explains Valerie uses invoices and scraped competitor pricing, but agents still struggle to register, browse, and transact across legacy websites.

Play episode from 14:21

chevron_right

Transcript

chevron_right

Transcript

Episode notes

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist

Shopify - https://shopify.com/twist

Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twist

Today’s show:

An AI agent named Valerie is running a real vending machine in San Francisco — setting prices, ordering inventory, managing a bank account, and posting to Instagram. And it's not just a stunt. We’re getting an early look at the future of one-agent companies. There’s still work to do to help agents ease into the economy, potentially opening up new startup opportunities.

Jason Calacanis and Alex Wilhelm cover a stacked docket: Christian van der Henst demos the Valerie AI vending machine powered by OpenClaw; Robert Myers, CEO of Manifold Labs, breaks down Targon, a confidential GPU compute marketplace running on Bittensor Subnet 4; Jason calls Bitcoin "played out;" Alex is impressed by Anthropic's stunning $900 billion upcoming valuation; and the guys discuss Big Tech's accelerating CapEx spend, Chinese AI models in Congress crosshairs, and the NBA Playoffs.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro & sponsor reads (Pilot, Shopify, Grasshopper Bank)

1:06 Christian van der Henst: Valerie the AI vending machine demo

4:28 Legal structure: Giving an AI agent business ownership via trust

7:23 Where agents can and can't operate today

10:10 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.

11:48 AI café in Stockholm running on agents

18:21 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!

19:05 Robert Myers, Manifold Labs: Targon & Bittensor Subnet 4 interview

20:21 What is Bittensor? An "incubator with 128 subnets"

21:08 Shopify: Turn those What If's into sales with the ecommerce platform powering millions of businesses. Sign up for your $1-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/twist

25:21 Pricing, utilization caps, and why GPUs are sold out

26:38 Who's using Targon? Customers, use cases, and the mom-and-pop data center argument

30:06 Pilot: Focus on your product, let Pilot handle your bookkeeping. Pilot provides the most reliable accounting, CFO, and tax services for startups and small businesses. Head to https://pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.

35:07 Jason explains the annotated.com vision — 15 years in the making

39:11 Polymarket: Will Anthropic flip Bitcoin by Dec 31?

40:29 Jason's Bitcoin bear case: "It's played out. No incremental buyers."

46:05 MicroStrategy / Strategy updates

52:37 AI compute demand vs. the fiber overbuild analogy

55:55 Congress pressuring startups over Chinese AI models (DeepSeek, Moonshot)

57:11 A16z on the geopolitical risk of Chinese AI models

1:00:08 Reflection AI — America's open source AI champion (or lack thereof)

1:01:26 Off Duty: Knicks blow out Atlanta Hawks 140–89, Jason goes road-tripping

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