This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis
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Oct 13, 2021 • 1h 25min

US inherits China’s Bitcoin Mining Dynasty + Jacob Helberg on the “New Cold War” with China | E1303

Jason does a short news segment on China’s Bitcoin Mining hash rate falling to 0 and how the U.S. is now the largest mining hub (1:59). Then, Jacob Helberg author of "The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power," joins to discuss China's long-term goals (9:03), the United States' lack of preparedness, the struggle for control of front-end and backend technologies (32:22), plus much more.
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Oct 12, 2021 • 59min

Solana Founder Anatoly Yakovenko on scaling the blockchain to warp speed | E1302

Anatoly from Solana joins Jason to discuss how they've managed to build the fastest blockchain (0:54). Solana's "proof of history" innovation allows for over 50,000 transactions a second, we get into Solana's value prop (25:51), use cases (40:14), developer ecosystem and more!
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Oct 11, 2021 • 14min

How to understand customer engagement | Customer Basics with Salesforce’s Tiffani Bova | E1301

Startup Basics is BACK! This series focuses on one of the most important aspects of any successful startup: the customer. On episode two, Salesforce's Tiffani Bova joins to break down all things customer engagement: defining it, authenticity, blending automation with a human touch, social media strategies and more!
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Oct 8, 2021 • 1h 25min

Tether’s hidden billions with Bloomberg’s Zeke Faux + Startup Checklist E1 | E1300

First, Jason chats with Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux about his latest investigative piece "Tether's $69 Billion Mystery"(1:04). Then, Jason launches our news series "Startup Checklist" (31:49) which explores the things you should do to be prepared to launch a company.
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Oct 7, 2021 • 1h 25min

Fantasy startup investing NFTs + former Tesla CTO JB Straubel’s Redwood Materials | E1299

In a short news segment, Jason talks about a company that tried to sell "fantasy startup investing" NFTs and why they had to pivot (1:44). Jason gives a brief tribute to Steve Jobs (15:48). Then, he's joined by JB Straubel, Tesla's longtime CTO who stepped down in 2019 to found a new lithium-ion battery recycling company, Redwood Materials(22:08). JB and Jason discuss the early launches and setbacks at Tesla, overcoming challenges, and the possibilities created by battery recycling. To close out the show, we play a clip of Steve Job's 2005 Stanford Commencement Address (1:20:15).
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Oct 6, 2021 • 1h 23min

FB Whistleblower’s Senate testimony + Scorpion Capital shorts Ginkgo Bioworks, claims fraud | E1298

In this all news show, Jason covers Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen’s Senate testimony and Mark Zuckerberg's response (2:22). We also get into the fraud claims made by Scorpion Capital against Ginkgo Bioworks $DNA (1:01:35), we had Ginkgo CEO Jason Kelly on E1239 https://bit.ly/twiste1239.
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Oct 5, 2021 • 20min

How to create great customer experience | Customer Basics with Salesforce’s Tiffani Bova | E1297

Startup Basics is BACK! This series will focus on one of the most important aspects of any successful startup: the customer. On episode one, Salesforce's Tiffani Bova joins to break down all things customer experience: defining it, what an amazing experience looks like, how startups can beat the incumbents, and more!
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Oct 4, 2021 • 1h 5min

Facebook’s whistleblower reveal & major outage + reacting to OZY media CEO on Today Show | E1296

In this news episode, Jason covers the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's "60 minutes" interview and breaks down some clips. Then he shares the highlights and rationalizations from the OZY Media CEO's Today Show appearance.
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Oct 1, 2021 • 1h 8min

Coinbase CEO reflects on “mission” manifesto + Kettle’s Nat Manning on fire insurance | E1295

First Jason covers Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's reflections on last year's blog "Coinbase is a mission focused company.” Then, Nat Manning joins from Kettle, to chat about better assessing fire risk with data, how California can prevent home damage from increasing wildfires, outperforming actuaries & more.
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Sep 30, 2021 • 56min

Amazon’s AI driver supervisors, OZY media fallout, rising FEMA flood insurance, OpenScouting | E1294

Jason does a full news show breaking down: how Amazon monitors drivers with AI cameras (01:54), Tesla's new driver score (22:05), OZY Media's continued fallout (32:45), and new proposed changes for homeowners in coastal zones (42:08). Plus, Jason explains his new program OpenScouting.com

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