This Week in Startups

chevron_right

The $60 billion resource hiding in space, and the start trying to mine it (feat. Matt Gialich, Astroforge) | E2268

whatshot 118 snips

Mar 27, 2026

Matt Gialich, AstroForge founder building asteroid-mining spacecraft, talks space metals, magnetic docking, failed launches, and the high-stakes November mission. Sam Dare of Templar, focused on decentralized AI training, digs into blockchain incentives and cheaper model-building. Yazin Alirhayim, creator of private note tool OpenOats, demos real-time meeting transcription and AI prompts.

01:39:16

forum

Ask episode

web_stories

AI Snips

view_agenda

Chapters

menu_book

Books

auto_awesome

Transcript

info_circle

Episode notes

insights

INSIGHT

Why Near Earth Asteroids Make Mining Plausible Now

AstroForge thinks asteroid mining works now because near-Earth asteroids are abundant, close, and rich in platinum group metals.
Matthew Gialich said new asteroid catalogs grew from about seven to 600,000 near-Earth objects, enabling short missions to 200-meter targets roughly 10 million miles away.

insights

INSIGHT

AstroForge Targets Space Mining With Venture Math

AstroForge's economics depend on small, repeatable spacecraft that can return up to 1,000 kilograms of refined material.
Matthew Gialich said Deep Space 2 costs about $10.4 million including launch, versus roughly $105 million of platinum-group-metal value at current prices.

question_answer

ANECDOTE

AstroForge Published Its Failed Mission Postmortem

AstroForge live-streams mission control and publishes postmortems when flights fail instead of hiding mistakes.
After Odin launched in February 2025, the solar panels failed to deploy, leaving the craft in a slow spin and short on power.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

AstroForge Begins Commercial Deep Space Mining

03:10 • 1min

chevron_right

Magnetic Asteroid Landing Simplifies Prospecting

04:36 • 1min

chevron_right

Why Earth Needs Space-Based Resource Extraction

05:41 • 3min

chevron_right

Laser Mining Targets $105 Million Payloads

Mission Failures Demand Transparent Iteration

11:12 • 4min

chevron_right

Investor Trust Depends on Incremental Progress

14:55 • 1min

chevron_right

Platinum Scarcity Could Become Abundance

16:18 • 4min

chevron_right

November Launch Could Validate the Thesis

Capitalism Rewards Better Cheaper Faster Systems

22:15 • 4min

chevron_right

Bittensor Turns Incentives Into AI Infrastructure

Templar Pays Miners to Improve Model Loss

32:04 • 3min

chevron_right

A 72B Model for Just Millions

35:01 • 5min

chevron_right

Decentralized Training Enables Sovereign AI

40:23 • 3min

chevron_right

Next Runs Aim for Heterogeneous Compute

43:08 • 5min

chevron_right

Jason Frames Tao as Bitcoin’s Challenger

47:49 • 6min

chevron_right

OpenOats Adds Private Real-Time Meeting Insight

53:49 • 4min

chevron_right

Live Prompts Turn Meetings Into Diligence Workflows

57:40 • 5min

chevron_right

AI Maintainers Could Power Endless Software Forks

01:02:50 • 6min

chevron_right

Lord of the Rings Expands Through New Side Stories

01:08:43 • 5min

chevron_right

Harry Potter Economics Favor Massive Streaming Bets

01:14:04 • 11min

chevron_right

Off-Duty Picks Span AI Tools and Pop Culture

• Mentioned in 69 episodes

The Silmarillion

J. R. R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion is a comprehensive narrative that details the creation of Tolkien's universe, Eä, and the history of the First Age. It includes the legend of the Silmarils, jewels crafted by Fëanor that contain the essence of the Two Trees of Valinor. The book covers the creation of the world, the history of the Elves and Men, the wars against Morgoth, and the legendary love story of Beren and Lúthien. Edited and published posthumously by Christopher Tolkien with the assistance of Guy Gavriel Kay, it is a foundational work that underpins the stories of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings'.

#2948

• Mentioned in 17 episodes

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone follows the story of Harry Potter, an orphan who lives with his cruel aunt and uncle. On his eleventh birthday, Harry discovers he is a wizard and begins attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, he makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and becomes entangled in a mystery surrounding the Philosopher's Stone, a magical object that can grant eternal life. The trio must prevent the dark wizard Lord Voldemort from obtaining the Stone and restoring his power.

• Mentioned in 566 episodes

The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R. R. Tolkien, is an epic high fantasy novel set in Middle-earth. The story follows Frodo Baggins, a hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. The Ring, forged by Sauron, holds the power to control all other Rings of Power and must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom to prevent Sauron's return. Frodo is joined by a fellowship of other characters, including Gandalf the Grey, Samwise Gamgee, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir, as they embark on a dangerous quest across Middle-earth. The novel explores themes of good vs. evil, the corrupting influence of power, and the struggle between fate and free will.

#117

• Mentioned in 169 episodes

The Hobbit

or There and Back Again

J.R.R Tolkien

Published in 1937, 'The Hobbit' is a children's fantasy novel that introduces readers to the richly imagined world of Middle-earth. The story follows Bilbo Baggins, a home-loving hobbit, who is persuaded by Gandalf to join Thorin and his twelve dwarves on a quest to reclaim their treasure from the dragon Smaug. During the journey, Bilbo encounters various creatures, including trolls, goblins, and the mysterious Gollum, and discovers a magical ring that renders the wearer invisible. The novel is a prequel to 'The Lord of the Rings' and explores themes of personal growth, courage, and unexpected heroism.

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Wispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twist

Circle - http://circle.so/twist

Deel - http://deel.com/twist

Today’s show:

AstroForge is building low-cost, replicable spacecraft to mine platinum group metals from near-Earth asteroids — a $60 billion annual market for materials that are running out on Earth. Founder and CEO Matt Gialich joins the show to talk about the company's ambitious mission, what went wrong on their first two flights, and why Mission 3 could still change everything.

PLUS Sam Dare from Templar stops by to talk about training AI models on a decentralized blockchain, and why it’s so much cheaper and more efficient than the conventional “data center full of GPUs” method. AND a demo of OpenOats from creator Yazin Alirhayim of his open source Granola alternative.

Astroforge: https://www.astroforge.com/

Templar: https://www.tplr.ai/

Epoch AI decentralized training post: https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-far-can-decentralized-training-over-the-internet-scale

OpenOats on Github: https://github.com/yazinsai/OpenOats

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:59 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 aplaud Plaud!

3:18 Astroforge is mining… asteroids?!

6:11 How creating an abundance of Platinum will impact Humanity!

9:56 Wispr Flow: Stop typing. Dictate with Wispr Flow and send clean, final-draft writing in seconds. Visit https://wisprflow.ai/twist to get started for free today.

21:16 Circle: The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off the Circle Plus Plan by going to https://circle.so/twist.

22:01 How Astroforge uses capitalism to unlock abundance

24:35 J-Cal subscribed to… A socialist magazine?

26:19 Sam Dare of Templar joins the show!

27:47 What is TAO doing that's uniquely different from Bitcoin

30:15 What is the incentive mechanism that Templar uses?

30:44 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.

37:49 How much does it cost to run templar's model?

45:16 Can decentralized training over the internet scale? https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-far-can-decentralized-training-over-the-internet-scale

47:16 Jason addresses his tao investment

48:48 Why brand is the moat for startups

49:47 When will a better, more exciting version of Bitcoin, can come along?

52:20 Yazin of OpenGranola Joins the show

53:36 How OpenGranola has local LLM's taking notes for you and giving you real time insights in your meeting!

1:01:45 Jason's callout for a sidebar that shows all inputs from agents

1:13:50 The economics of the new harry potter series and HBO/ Warner Brothers

1:23:33 Why Jason wants government surveillance on Disney adults…

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: