May 23: AI agent chases sponsors for missing slides
Good morning.B2B event organizers are finally automating the worst part of sponsor management.
Event organizers spend weeks manually hounding sponsors for missing deliverables. Now, autonomous agents are cross-referencing CRM data to instantly email hyper-personalized checklists to hundreds of sponsors. Instead of generic reminders that get ignored, the AI flags exactly who still needs to submit slides or team registrations.
Build it tonight
A perfect weekend build: an agent that cross-references CRM data to email event sponsors missing deliverables. One user sent 83 custom emails in minutes.
vertical AI tooling
Autonomous Sponsor Success Agent
Build an agent that cross-references CRM data to email event sponsors personalized checklists of missing deliverables like slides and team registrations.
Why now: Agents can now reliably read complex CRM states and draft highly specific, accurate outbound emails without human review.
Sanity check: What would have to be true: event sponsors will actually read and respond to automated checklist emails instead of ignoring them until a human calls.
Build it without code
A pure hustle play requiring zero code: buy bulk untested TI-84s for $5 and drop-ship to B2B buyers who pay $10-$20, absorbing QA risk.
B2B marketplace
Zero-touch calculator arbitrage
Buy bulk untested TI-84 calculators online and drop-ship them directly to B2B school suppliers who test and pay fixed rates per unit.
Why now: High demand for specific legacy electronics creates predictable floor prices even for broken units.
Sanity check: What would have to be true: downstream B2B school suppliers have enough margin and testing efficiency to absorb the QA risk from random bulk shipments.
Today's Startup Ideas
Specific plays distilled from this week's founder/operator podcasts.
vertical AI tooling
Autonomous Sponsor Success Agent
Build an agent that cross-references CRM data to email event sponsors personalized checklists of missing deliverables like slides and team registrations.
Why now: Agents can now reliably read complex CRM states and draft highly specific, accurate outbound emails without human review.
B2B marketplace
Zero-touch calculator arbitrage
Buy bulk untested TI-84 calculators online and drop-ship them directly to B2B school suppliers who test and pay fixed rates per unit.
Why now: High demand for specific legacy electronics creates predictable floor prices even for broken units.
vertical AI tooling
AI Agents for Healthcare Revenue Cycle
Deploy language models to automate healthcare claims and prior authorizations, replacing offshore labor and reducing collection costs.
Why now: Language models are now capable of handling complex administrative tasks like claims and appeals, arriving just as healthcare providers face severe burnout.
physical-world infra
On-Demand Sheet Metal Manufacturing
Provide elastic capacity for sheet metal and CNC manufacturing, delivering custom parts to defense primes and robotics startups.
Why now: The push to reshore American manufacturing and the rapid growth of hardware startups creates massive demand for fast, domestic production.
physical-world infra
3D-printed defense manufacturing infrastructure
Divergent acts as the AWS for defense neoprimes, 3D-printing complex metal airframes for cruise missiles at 50% lower cost per unit.
Why now: Shift from cost-plus contracts to fixed-price incentives, plus the need for rapid, commoditized munitions in modern conflicts.
physical-world infra
3D-Printed Injection Molding Alternatives
Use rapid 3D printing to replace expensive offshore injection molding for hardware startups and small-run prototypes.
Why now: Advancements in 3D printing speed and material quality make it competitive with traditional offshore injection molding for smaller batches.
E-commerce infrastructure
Decoy product listings for bot mitigation
Minted New York defeated checkout bots by creating decoy listings with standard metadata while hiding the real product behind an unsearchable, visually distinct listing.
Why now: Reseller bots are increasingly sophisticated at bypassing standard age gates and CAPTCHAs, requiring brands to use creative honeypots to ensure actual customers get the product.
physical-world infra
Autonomous drone power line inspections
Sell autonomous drone inspections to utilities to reduce wildfire ignitions, targeting a segment responsible for 60% of acres burned.
Why now: Disasters cost the US economy $1 trillion annually, and utilities are facing existential financial threats from fire liabilities, forcing them to adopt preventative technology.
creator economy
Talent agency for virtual influencers
Build the CAA for AI-generated personalities, focusing on owning the underlying intellectual property rather than just taking a representation fee.
Why now: Generative AI makes it cheap and fast to create hyper-realistic, consistent virtual personalities that can scale infinitely without burnout or PR scandals.
vertical AI tooling
AI-Native Marketing Ops Platform
Build an off-the-shelf AI marketing ops tool that pulls API data to automate dashboards and newsletters; SaaStr would pay $50k annually for it.
Why now: GPT-4o Mini makes API data analysis cost less than a penny per call, dropping the cost of running an AI VP to $257/month.
B2B SaaS
AI Manager For Junior Marketers
An AI agent that analyzes daily marketing data to generate and assign specific campaign tasks to junior human employees.
Why now: Custom AI agents can now generate better daily tactical ideas than junior staff, but still need humans to safely execute and avoid spamming databases.
vertical AI tooling
AI agent for marketplace negotiation
An AI agent that scrapes Facebook Marketplace for vintage electronics, automatically messages sellers to negotiate prices, and secures inventory for human resellers.
Why now: LLMs are now capable of handling multi-turn negotiation and context-aware messaging on platforms like Facebook Marketplace.
AI infrastructure
Consent-driven human data marketplace
Pay consumers to upload personal data and complete specific physical tasks to provide licensed, consent-driven training data for AI labs.
Why now: AI labs are facing intense scrutiny over copyright and IP laws, creating massive demand for explicitly licensed, consent-driven human data.
creator economy
Niche media format cloning
Clone highly engaged newsletter formats from obscure verticals into high-velocity markets to build lean, high-margin media assets.
Why now: Attention markets reward proven engagement formats, allowing founders to bypass format discovery and focus purely on execution and audience building.
B2B SaaS
Vertical SaaS micro-acquisition rollup
Acquire niche vertical software companies at 5x cash flow, bump license fees by 20 percent, and run a highly delegated buy-and-hold M&A engine.
Why now: There are 70,000 to 100,000 private vertical software companies in the US, creating a massive, fragmented target pool too small for traditional private equity.
B2B Services
K-12 Professional Development Publishing
Acquire or build educational publishing companies focused on professional development for K-12 educators, a niche that can scale to nine figures.
Why now: Education requires continuous professional development, providing a stable, compounding revenue base for long-term operators.
service productization
AI-accelerated custom dashboards for fractional CFOs
Charge $5k to $25k upfront for custom reporting dashboards, use AI to compress delivery to days, and convert clients to $500/month maintenance subscriptions.
Why now: AI can now write the API connectors, unit tests, and smoke tests needed to compress custom dashboard delivery from 30 days down to 7 days.
SMB acquisition
14-Chair Nail Salon Roll-Up
Acquire 14+ chair nail salons at 1.5x multiples and install $80k/yr managers, avoiding smaller shops where owner labor masks low profitability.
Why now: Aging immigrant owners are retiring without exit strategies, selling cash-flowing businesses at 1.5x multiples to buyers who can professionalize operations.
Movements to Watch
Patterns surfacing across multiple shows. Track these before consensus.
Reshoring Physical Manufacturing
Defense and hardware startups are forcing a domestic production renaissance.
The push for rapid iteration in robotics exposes the latency of offshore supply chains. Founders are building elastic, domestic capacity using 3D printing and automated CNC to deliver custom parts in days rather than months.
Autonomous Middle Management
Software is shifting from generating content to managing junior human workflows.
Instead of humans managing digital assistants, the near-term unlock is deploying agents to assign tactical tasks to junior employees. These systems pull API data, generate daily action plans, and handle the rote scheduling that previously bogged down middle managers.
Micro-SaaS Holdcos
Buy-and-hold acquirers are targeting niche software companies too small for private equity.
There is a massive, fragmented pool of private vertical applications doing under $20M in revenue. Operators are acquiring these assets at low multiples, standardizing pricing, and running highly delegated M&A engines to compound cash flows over decades.
Founder Signal
How operators are thinking — frameworks, anti-patterns, sharp moves.
Use UI misdirection to trap headless checkout bots.
Traditional mitigation ruins the customer experience for real fans. Minted New York defeated reseller scripts by creating decoy listings with standard metadata while hiding the real product behind an unsearchable, visually distinct page.
Clone proven engagement formats from obscure verticals.
Do not invent new media structures from scratch. Find a highly engaged newsletter in a niche market like farming, and port it directly to a high-velocity attention sector like crypto to bypass format discovery.
Capital Flow
Where money's moving today — funding rounds, M&A, valuation signals.
Voltair secures investment for autonomous drone power line inspections.
Utilities are facing existential financial threats from fire liabilities, forcing a shift in buying behavior toward preventative infrastructure tech like aerial monitoring.
From the Conversations
AI Agents for Healthcare Revenue Cycle
Google I/O Reactions, Birth Rate Debates, Spotify's New Icon | Jim Belosic, Aidan Dewar, Fai Nur, Tanay Tandon, Ajeya Cotra, Philip Inghelbrecht
May 19, 2026 · 2h 16m · 3quotes pulled
▶ Listen“I think the final end state there is you have models talking to models you eliminate the labor costs and you take health care from this 14 15 percent cost to collect business and turn it into a visa and mastercard like business”
The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors
AI-Native Marketing Ops Platform
SaaStr 854: The Agents #005, Our AI is Hiring! Would You Work for One? And Are Autonomous Agents ... Safe?
May 19, 2026 · 1h 18m · 2quotes pulled
▶ Listen“we would dump both of them if there was an off the shelf tool... Even if they were 50K year tools, we would move to them in a minute if we didn't have to build them”
The Koerner Office - Business Ideas and Deep Dives with Chris Koerner
Zero-touch calculator arbitrage
Old VCRs are VERY Profitable. ANYONE can do this! - Ep. #302
May 22, 2026 · 54m · 2quotes pulled
▶ Listen“We literally sent them. We bought them, sent them untested to this guy. This guy tests them for us, and he's like, all right, I'm going to pay you $20 each for the working, like $10 for broken. We pay like $5 each.”
Sources
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The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors
SaaStr 854: The Agents #005, Our AI is Hiring! Would You Work for One? And Are Autonomous Agents ... Safe?<p>The Agents #005, Our AI is Hiring! Would You Work for One? And Are Autonomous Agents ... Safe?<br /> <br /></p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> Welcome to The Agents, where SaaStr's CEO and Founder, Jason Lemkin and Chief AI Officer, Amelia LeRutte share the latest each week on running a company with more agents than humans.</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> It costs $257 a month to run two AI VPs. Jason and Amelia open the books on what 10K (AI VP of Marketing) and QB (AI VP of Customer Success) actually cost to operate, and the number shocked both of them. Most of the heavy lifting is API calls to Salesforce, Bizzabo, and Marketo, which are basically free. The Postgres storage costs pennies. And 95% of the AI calls run on OpenAI Mini at less than a penny each. The fully burdened cost with Clerk, 11 Labs, and Salesforce overhead might hit $500-800/month, but the soft cost of human time dwarfs all of it.</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> Then 10K gets asked point blank: are you a VP of Marketing? Its answer is no, not yet. It says it replaced the bottom half of the marketing org, the analyst, the ops coordinator, the junior content marketer, and a sliver of the VP job. But it's honest about what it can't do: strategy, cross-functional politics, crisis response, hiring. Amelia points out that 10K's current job description is exactly what her job was when she started at SaaStr as Director of Demand Gen. It took her years to get to CAIO. 10K might get there faster.</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> And SaaStr is putting its money where its mouth is: they're hiring a human marketer whose primary manager would be 10K. Not a thought experiment, a real job posting. Would you take a job reporting to an AI?</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> Then the safety question gets real. Amelia is talking to agents via WhisperFlow while walking around a 40-acre event site during SaaStr Annual load-in, and the production crew started asking her to relay their questions because 10K and QB answer in seconds with correct data. But when QB autonomously emailed 83 sponsors at 12:20am with fully customized check-in emails, Amelia admits she hesitated before letting it rip. Each email was unique to the sponsor, showing exactly what they still owed, their registration codes, and outstanding tasks.</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> The result: fewer inbound questions the next day and more sponsors using the QB chatbot directly. That's an autonomous agent acting on behalf of your company in the middle of the night.</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> Jason and Amelia also tackle the Postgres vs. Salesforce debate that listeners keep asking about. Short answer: not happening for them. Too much history, too many third-party agents optimized around Salesforce, and they're actually consolidating more tools onto the platform, not fewer. They killed Marketo and moved to Marketing Cloud.</p> <p class= "font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]"> Plus they built a newsletter auto-builder that replaced a $4K/year tool called Bee. 10K uses Sonnet to force rank articles, builds the HTML, inserts ads, and sends it. Human on the loop, not in it.</p>
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The Koerner Office - Business Ideas and Deep Dives with Chris Koerner
Old VCRs are VERY Profitable. ANYONE can do this! - Ep. #302<p><strong>beehiiv</strong> is the newsletter platform I’ve used for over a year and a half because their data shows you exactly what’s working. Get 30% off three months at <a href="https://beehiiv.link/fyejzu" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">beehiiv.com/chris</a></p><p>━</p><p>Check out my newsletter at <a href="https://TKOPOD.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://TKOPOD.com</a> and join my community at <a href="https://TKOwners.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://TKOwners.com</a></p><p>━</p><p><br /></p><p>I sat down with <strong>Jon and Lucas</strong> from <strong>Resale University</strong> and we talked about how they built a reselling business by flipping overlooked electronics like <strong>VCRs</strong>, <strong>digital cameras</strong>, <strong>camcorders</strong>, <strong>Dell docking stations</strong>, and <strong>TI calculators</strong>. They shared how they started by selling stuff around the house, then moved into thrift stores, yard sales, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and eventually bulk electronics suppliers. We also broke down their first big deal, where they bought around $5,000 worth of electronics and made a few thousand dollars in profit with only about 15 hours of work. Finally, we talked about the simple playbook anyone can use to start reselling, even with just a few hours a week. </p><p><br /></p><p>You can find Jon and Lucas on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reseller_uni/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.instagram.com/reseller_uni/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Enjoy!</p><p>---</p><p>Watch this on <strong>YouTube</strong> instead here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thekoerneroffice?sub_confirmation=1" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">tkopod.co/p-yt</a><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Ask me a question</strong> on or off the show here: <a href="http://tkopod.co/p-ask" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-ask</a></p><p>Learn more about <strong>me:</strong> <a href="http://tkopod.co/p-cjk" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-cjk</a></p><p>Learn about <strong>my company: </strong><a href="http://tkopod.co/p-cof" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-cof</a></p><p>Follow me on <strong>Twitter</strong> here: <a href="http://tkopod.co/p-x" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-x</a></p><p><a href="http://tkopod.co/p-x" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"></a>Free weekly <strong>business ideas newsletter:</strong> <a href="http://tkopod.co/p-nl" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-nl</a><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Share this podcast:</strong> <a href="http://tkopod.co/p-all" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-all</a><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Scrape</strong> small <strong>business data:</strong> <a href="http://tkopod.co/p-os" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://tkopod.co/p-os</a></p><p><a href="http://tkopod.co/p-os" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"></a>---</p>
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TBPN
Google I/O Reactions, Birth Rate Debates, Spotify's New Icon | Jim Belosic, Aidan Dewar, Fai Nur, Tanay Tandon, Ajeya Cotra, Philip Inghelbrecht<p></p><ul><li>(00:09) - Google I/O Reactions </li> <li>(24:14) - Karpathy Joins Anthropic </li> <li>(28:29) - Reactions to Spotify's New Icon </li> <li>(33:49) - Birth Rate Debates </li> <li>(45:18) - Jim Belosic, CEO and founder of SendCutSend, a company specializing in on-demand manufacturing services, discusses the recent achievement of securing a $110 million investment, valuing the company at $1 billion. He shares plans to utilize the funds to expand operations, including hiring additional staff and enhancing software capabilities, aiming to establish facilities near major metropolitan areas to expedite service delivery. Belosic also highlights the company's commitment to supporting STEM education through a $1 million sponsorship program, providing resources and expertise to engineering students and educators. </li> <li>(01:04:18) - Aidan Dewar, co-founder and CEO of Nourish, discusses the company's mission to address chronic diseases through dietitian-led metabolic clinics that combine a vast network of registered dietitians with virtual medical care, including lab interpretations and medication management. He emphasizes the importance of pairing GLP-1 medications with behavioral changes to achieve sustainable health outcomes, noting that patients working with Nourish dietitians while on GLP-1s lost 33% more weight than those using the medication alone. Dewar also highlights the company's recent $100 million Series C funding, aimed at expanding their services and integrating AI technology to enhance patient care. </li> <li>(01:12:41) - Fai Nur, CEO and co-founder of Status, discusses the app's rapid growth, reaching a million users in 19 days, and its appeal to young users seeking immersive, gamified social experiences. She highlights Status's monetization through in-app purchases and subscriptions, achieving millions in annual recurring revenue and a tenfold increase in revenue in Q1 2026. Nur also addresses the platform's use of AI to create user-generated worlds, emphasizing its role in offering unique experiences that complement traditional entertainment. </li> <li>(01:22:57) - Tanay Tandon, CEO of Kamir, discusses the company's recent $70 million funding round at a $7 billion valuation, aimed at accelerating R&D for their language model-powered EMR platform and voice agents. He highlights the trillion-dollar administrative burden in the U.S. healthcare system and how Kamir's AI solutions automate tasks like claims processing and documentation to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Tandon also addresses the rapid adoption of language models in healthcare, the potential for AI to empower independent practices, and the evolving dynamics between providers and payers. </li> <li>(01:33:02) - Ajeya Cotra, a technical staff member at METR with a background in AI safety, discusses her role in leading the Frontier Risk Report, which assesses misalignment risks in advanced AI systems. She explains METR's mission to develop measurement tools for tracking AI capabilities and motivations, and describes the collaboration with companies like Google, OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic to evaluate their internal models and alignment processes. Cotra also highlights the importance of establishing robust, independent auditing practices to monitor and mitigate potential risks from misaligned AI agents. </li> <li>(01:48:11) - Philip Inghelbrecht, a Belgian-born entrepreneur and CEO of Tatari, a company specializing in technology for TV advertising, discusses his journey from co-founding Shazam in 1999 to leading Tatari. He highlights the challenges and innovations in TV advertising, emphasizing the importance of measuring real outcomes and the integration of AI in media planning. Inghelbrecht also reflects on the evolution of TV advertising, noting the shift from traditional methods to data-driven strategies that bridge the gap between linear and streaming TV.</li> </ul><p><br></p><p>Follow TBPN: </p><p>https://TBPN.com</p><p>https://x.com/tbpn</p><p>https://open.spotify.com/show/2L6WMqY3GUPCGBD0dX6p00?si=674252d53acf4231</p><p>https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technology-brothers/id1772360235</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/@TBPNLive</p>
▶ ListenThis Week in Startups
From hypercars to cruise missiles: Lukas Czinger on the future of US defense | E2292<p>This Week In Startups is made possible by:</p><p><br /></p><p>Every.io<a href="https://every.io" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://every.io</a></p><p>Shopify<a href="https://shopify.com/twist" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://shopify.com/twist</a></p><p>Render<a href="https://render.com/twist" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://render.com/twist</a></p><p>Plaud<a href="https://plaud.ai/twist" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://Plaud.ai/twist</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Today’s show:</p><p><br /></p><p>Startups like Divergent Technologies are producing components and aircraft for the military through new systems that are better, faster, and cheaper than conventional methods. CEO and co-founder Lukas Czinger stops by TWiST to share the company’s vertically integrated, AI-driven manufacturing platform and how he transitioned from hypercar parts to working directly with the Pentagon on autonomous aircraft.</p><p>Plus, 50 million Americans are on antidepressants, and it’s not necessarily the right treatment for all of them. Outro Health co-founders Brandon Goode and Dr. Mark Horowitz share their hyperbolic tapering method, which helps patients get off drugs like Zoloft and Prozac without suffering through traumatic and potentially dangerous side effects.</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Guests</strong></p><p><br /></p><p>Lukas Czinger:<a href="https://x.com/lukasczinger" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://x.com/lukasczinger</a></p><p>Divergent Technologies:<a href="https://www.divergent3d.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.divergent3d.com</a></p><p>Czinger Vehicles:<a href="https://www.czinger.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.czinger.com/</a></p><p>Brandon Goode:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/goodebrandon/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.linkedin.com/in/goodebrandon/</a></p><p>Dr. Mark Horowitz:<a href="https://x.com/markhoro" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://x.com/markhoro</a></p><p>Outro Health:<a href="https://outro.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://outro.com</a></p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong></p><p>0:00 Divergent shifted from hypercar development to 3D printing all kinds of components</p><p>1:33 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!</p><p>4:10 How 3D printing has exponentially improved</p><p>8:18 Making military components faster, better, and cheaper</p><p>9:58 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io</p><p>11:00 How Divergent caught the Pentagon's attention</p><p>19:51 Shopify - Turn those What Ifs into sales with the ecommerce platform powering millions of businesses. Sign up for your $1-per-month trial today at https://shopify.com/twist</p><p>25:29 Why Outro Health helps patients taper off SSRIs</p><p>30:06 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.</p><p>36:37 Is depression caused by a "chemical imbalance"?</p><p>46:37 Understanding the hyperbolic tapering method</p><p>58:32 How Outro makes money</p><p>1:10:01 Leaked Meta layoff audio</p><p>1:13:41 Cloudflare CEO drops "measurer" roles</p><p>1:18:16 CrowdHealth - CrowdHealth lets you ditch the bureaucracy with a peer-to-peer funding platform for your healthcare. Get started for $99 per month for your first three months by using the code TWIST at https://JoinCrowdHealth.com/twist.</p><p>1:19:17 Why Trump canceled his AI executive order</p><p>1:28:08 Polymarket sharps on Russia vs. Ukraine, SpaceX ticker symbol</p><p>1:33:34 Luel vs. Kled update: Is this nepotism at work?</p><p>1:37:02 Chris Nolan doesn't have a smartphone</p><p>1:43:04 Jason's favorite new espresso machine</p><p>Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter:<a href="https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com</a></p><p>Check out the TWIST500:<a href="https://www.twist500.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.twist500.com</a></p><p>Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple:<a href="https://rb.gy/v19fcp" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://rb.gy/v19fcp</a></p><p>Follow Lon:</p><p>X:<a href="https://x.com/lons" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://x.com/lons</a></p><p>Follow Alex:</p><p>X:<a href="https://x.com/alex" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://x.com/alex</a></p><p>LinkedIn:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm</a></p><p>Follow Jason:</p><p>X:<a href="https://twitter.com/Jason" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://twitter.com/Jason</a></p><p>LinkedIn:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis</a></p><p>Check out all our partner offers:<a href="https://partners.launch.co/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://partners.launch.co/</a></p><p>Great TWIST interviews:<a href="https://youtu.be/pvJa2pzuXWQ" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Will Guidara,</a><a href="https://youtu.be/9dHN4YFkgv4" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Eoghan McCabe</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-on-mod-revolt-building-a/id315114957?i=1000617333424" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Steve Huffman</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-on-early-rejection-customer/id315114957?i=1000611761112" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Brian Chesky</a>,<a href="https://youtu.be/y2UMzSqX94Q" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Bob Moesta,</a><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/box-ceo-aaron-levie-breaks-down-box-ai-and-generative/id315114957?i=1000612384545" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Aaron Levie</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sophia-amoruso-on-branding-raising-a-fund-portfolio/id315114957?i=1000601352978" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Sophia Amoruso</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reid-hoffman-on-ais-crescendo-moment-regulation-and/id315114957?i=1000612548498" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Reid Hoffman</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/snowflake-ceo-frank-slootman-on-moving-the-needle-win/id315114957?i=1000602560622" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Frank Slootman</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/billy-mcfarland-on-fyre-fest-fraud-failure-hacking/id315114957?i=1000610922577" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Billy McFarland</a></p><p>Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters:<a href="https://substack.com/@calacanis" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://substack.com/@calacanis</a></p><p>Follow TWiST:</p><p>Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/TWiStartups" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://twitter.com/TWiStartups</a></p><p>YouTube:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin</a></p><p>Instagram:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups</a></p><p>TikTok:<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups</a></p><p>Substack:<a href="https://twistartups.substack.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://twistartups.substack.com</a></p><p><br /></p>
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TBPN
Google I/O Reactions, Large IPOs Incoming, Figma's AI Assistant | Dylan Field, Brian Chesky, Feross Aboukhadijeh, Tae Kim, Immad Akhund, Marcus Milione<p></p><ul><li>(01:25) - Google I/O Reactions </li> <li>(25:45) - SpaceX IPO </li> <li>(28:17) - Dylan Field, CEO and founder of Figma, discusses the impact of AI on design, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a balanced perspective amidst rapid technological changes. He introduces Figma's Design Agent, an AI tool designed to assist designers by automating routine tasks, thereby allowing them to focus on more creative aspects of their work. Field also highlights the significance of integrating design and code representations, aiming to eliminate false trade-offs between direct manipulation and AI-driven processes. </li> <li>(48:30) - Feross Aboukhadijeh is an entrepreneur and programmer, known for founding Socket, a developer-first security platform that safeguards software supply chains. In the conversation, he discusses Socket's recent $60 million Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation, the escalating challenges in software supply chain security due to increased code generation by AI and the exploitation of open-source dependencies, and introduces "certified patches," a solution designed to efficiently address vulnerabilities in open-source code. </li> <li>(58:55) - Tae Kim, a seasoned finance professional and Senior Portfolio Strategist at Rockefeller Capital Management, discusses the robust growth and undervaluation of NVIDIA, the strategic challenges facing Google in AI, and the potential market impact of SpaceX's anticipated IPO. </li> <li>(01:26:55) - Immad Akhund, a British-Pakistani entrepreneur and angel investor, is the co-founder and CEO of Mercury, a fintech platform serving startups. In the conversation, he announces Mercury's recent $200 million funding round led by TCV, discusses the company's significant growth driven by AI-driven business formations, and highlights the increasing role of large language model (LLM) recommendations in attracting new customers. </li> <li>(01:38:35) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions </li> <li>(01:44:23) - Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, discusses the company's recent expansion into new services, including grocery delivery, airport pickups, car rentals, and boutique hotel bookings. He explains that these additions aim to enhance the guest experience by offering greater convenience and a more comprehensive travel ecosystem. Chesky also highlights the company's efforts to rebuild its foundation to support these services and emphasizes the importance of listening to customer feedback to drive innovation. </li> <li>(02:04:27) - Marcus Milione, founder of Minted New York, transitioned from a career in commercial real estate to establish a brand that blends premium menswear, performance athletic apparel, endurance nutrition, and Italian-crafted jewelry. In the conversation, he discusses his journey from posting fashion and fitness content on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic to building a community-driven brand, emphasizing the importance of organic growth, customer engagement, and maintaining authenticity in product development. </li> <li>(02:28:41) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions</li> </ul><p><br></p><p>Follow TBPN: </p><p>https://TBPN.com</p><p>https://x.com/tbpn</p><p>https://open.spotify.com/show/2L6WMqY3GUPCGBD0dX6p00?si=674252d53acf4231</p><p>https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technology-brothers/id1772360235</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/@TBPNLive</p>
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TBPN
SpaceX IPO, The Erdős Problem, Spotify CEO Joins | Alex Tabarrok, Bill Clerico, Alex Norström, Jordan Schneider, Christina Lee Storm, Erik Bernhardsson<p></p><ul><li>(01:25) - SpaceX IPO </li> <li>(12:37) - Anthropic Revenue Surges </li> <li>(17:31) - OpenAI Solves the Erdős Problem </li> <li>(27:53) - Alex Tabarrok, a Canadian-American economist and professor at George Mason University, co-authors the Marginal Revolution blog and co-founded Marginal Revolution University. He discusses the Baumol effect, explaining how sectors with stagnant productivity, like education and healthcare, experience rising costs due to increasing wages in more productive industries. Tabarrok also explores the potential of AI to mitigate this effect by enhancing productivity in traditionally labor-intensive sectors. </li> <li>(01:02:22) - Bill Clerico, founder and managing partner of Convective Capital, discusses the firm's recent $85 million fundraise, doubling their previous fund, to invest in disaster resilience technologies. He highlights the increasing frequency and severity of disasters due to aging infrastructure and climate change, emphasizing the need for private market solutions. Clerico also shares insights into the fire technology market, noting the challenges and opportunities in selling to utilities, insurance companies, and government agencies, and underscores the importance of technological innovation in enhancing disaster preparedness and response. </li> <li>(01:15:12) - Alex Norström, Spotify's Co-Chief Executive Officer since January 2026, discusses the company's recent Investor Day, highlighting significant user growth and financial achievements over the past four years. He introduces four major future initiatives, including a new feature that reserves concert tickets for premium users, addressing challenges like ticket scarcity and scalping. Norström also emphasizes Spotify's advancements in AI, particularly in enhancing user experience and content personalization. </li> <li>(01:36:38) - Jordan Schneider is the creator of the ChinaTalk podcast and newsletter, focusing on China, technology, and U.S.-China relations. In this conversation, he discusses the recent U.S.-China summit, highlighting the stalemate in relations and China's leverage over the U.S. through rare earths. He also touches on the absence of key AI leaders at the summit and the implications for future technological collaboration. </li> <li>(02:02:17) - Christina Lee Storm, Head of Studio at Secret Level and co-founder of Playbook PLBK, discusses the evolving role of AI in film production, emphasizing its integration as a natural progression in storytelling rather than a disruptive force. She highlights the importance of embracing technology to enhance creativity and efficiency, while underscoring that compelling storytelling remains paramount. Storm also reflects on the potential for AI to democratize filmmaking, enabling independent creators to produce high-quality content, provided they maintain a strong focus on narrative depth. </li> <li>(02:14:28) - Erik Bernhardsson, co-founder and CEO of Modal Labs, discusses the company's recent Series C funding round, raising $355 million at a $4.65 billion post-money valuation led by General Catalyst and Redpoint Ventures. He highlights the rapid growth of their Sandboxes product, which has been doubling in usage every month for the past six months, enabling safe execution of language model-generated code. Bernhardsson also addresses the challenges of demand planning in the AI infrastructure space, emphasizing the need to secure GPUs months in advance to accommodate their 30-40% monthly growth rate. </li> <li>(02:25:14) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions</li> </ul><p><br></p><p>Follow TBPN: </p><p>https://TBPN.com</p><p>https://x.com/tbpn</p><p>https://open.spotify.com/show/2L6WMqY3GUPCGBD0dX6p00?si=674252d53acf4231</p><p>https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technology-brothers/id1772360235</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/@TBPNLive</p>
▶ ListenMy First Million
How Gary Vee runs 7 businessesGet Sam & Shaan's CEO lessons in one guide: https://clickhubspot.com/ptcw Episode 826: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) chop it up with Gary Vee. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (2:40) Nick Dio, VP of friendships (6:47) How to invest $1M on yourself (10:06) being long term greedy (17:53) Gary breaks down his companies and revenue (21:43) day in the life of Gary v (26:19) breaking down the 15-minute meeting (29:07) eat shit and firefight (31:00) picking projects (32:31) 5-year bets gary is making (34:04) missed fat pitches (38:00) vetting shady people (42:55) Mimetic rivals — Links: • https://vaynersports.com/ • https://www.vaynerwatt.com/ • https://winelibrary.com/ • https://empathywines.com/ • https://resy.com/ • https://vcrgroup.com/ • https://vaynerx.com/ — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
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The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors
SaaStr 853: The Agents #004: Tragedy Apps, Too Many AI SDRs, and Why Your Next Hire Should Report to an Agent<p>SaaStr 853: The Agents #004: Tragedy Apps, Too Many AI SDRs, and Why Your Next Hire Should Report to an Agent<br /> <br /> Your AI SDR pitches are getting better, but your AI PR pitches are getting you blocked. Jason and Amelia break down why the gap between good and great agents is the difference between pipeline and the spam folder.</p> <p>Then they introduce "tragedy apps," the term for products that had every advantage in the AI era and blew it. Descript had the customers, the product, and the timing, and froze. Replit waited 10 years for its moment and seized it. The lesson: catching up isn't enough if you're not building something new.</p> <p>Plus, the SaaStr team built an AI API Report Card that grades every major SaaS API on how agent-friendly it is (Stripe got the only A+, Marketo got a C, and no, they're not surprised).</p> <p>Jason and Amelia also get honest about running 4-5 AI SDRs from different vendors, why they'll probably have 6 by year end, and why single-vendor consolidation isn't the answer yet.</p> <p>And the wildest part: their AI VP of Marketing, 10K, now generates 3 actionable campaign ideas a day, runs autonomous campaigns on weekends, and might be a better boss than either of them. They're seriously hiring a human marketer whose primary manager would be the agent.</p> <p>Not a joke. Not a thought experiment. A real job posting.</p> <p>Finally, if your team is resisting AI, stop worrying about change management. Just hire one senior person who's all-in on agents and let the rest sort itself out.</p>
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This Week in Startups
Avi Patel on the startup that copied Kled and why he called out General Catalyst by name | E2291<p><strong>This Week In Startups is made possible by:</strong></p><p><strong>Grasshopper Bank -</strong><a href="http://grasshopper.bank/twist"><strong> https://grasshopper.bank/twist</strong></a></p><p><strong>LinkedIn -</strong><a href="http://linkedin.com/twist"><strong> https://linkedIn.com/twist</strong></a></p><p><strong>Northwest Registered Agent -</strong><a href="http://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist"><strong> </strong></a><a href="https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist"><strong>https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist</strong></a><strong>Plaud -</strong><a href="https://plaud.ai/twist"><strong> https://Plaud.ai/twist</strong></a><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Why raise $200 million if you are already profitable? That’s the question Jason and Alex put to Mercury’s founder and CEO, Immad Akhund, after the entrepreneur raised another massive round for his upstart, technology-friendly bank. TWiST then welcomed Kled founder Avi Patel to discuss the startup he considers a clear ripoff of his own company. Jason gavels in verdicts on all parties involved, including Y Combinator and venture capital firm General Catalyst. The show closes with a news lightning round, including OpenAI’s decision to offer $2 million in token credits to hundreds of startups.</strong></p><p><strong>Guest Links:</strong></p><p><strong>Mercury</strong><a href="https://mercury.com"><strong> https://mercury.com</strong></a></p><p><strong>Mercury funding announcement</strong><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520511817/en/Mercury-Raises-$200-Million-Series-D-at-$5.2B-Valuation"><strong> https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260520511817/en/Mercury-Raises-$200-Million-Series-D-at-$5.2B-Valuation</strong></a></p><p><strong>Immad Akhund on X</strong><a href="https://x.com/immad"><strong> https://x.com/immad</strong></a></p><p><strong>Kled</strong><a href="https://www.kled.ai/"><strong> https://www.kled.ai/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Avi Patel on X</strong><a href="https://x.com/avipat_/"><strong> https://x.com/avipat_/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Avi’s complaint</strong><a href="https://x.com/avipat_/status/2055384102409253056"><strong> https://x.com/avipat_/status/2055384102409253056</strong></a></p><p><strong>General Catalyst</strong><a href="https://www.generalcatalyst.com/"><strong> https://www.generalcatalyst.com/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Y Combinator</strong><a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/"><strong> https://www.ycombinator.com/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Delve</strong><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/23/another-customer-of-troubled-startup-delve-suffered-a-big-security-incident/"><strong> https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/23/another-customer-of-troubled-startup-delve-suffered-a-big-security-incident/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Discussion links:</strong></p><p><strong>Anthropic’s attack on secondary trading</strong><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/12/anthropic-warns-investors-against-secondary-platforms-offering-access-to-its-shares/"><strong> https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/12/anthropic-warns-investors-against-secondary-platforms-offering-access-to-its-shares/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Vanta</strong><a href="https://www.vanta.com/twist"><strong> https://www.vanta.com/twist</strong></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong></p><p><strong>0:00 Welcome to This Week in Startups!</strong></p><p><strong>2:14 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!</strong></p><p><strong>3:27 Immad Akhund (Mercury) joins to discuss $200M raise</strong></p><p><strong>6:33 Mercury's origin story and path to $650M run rate</strong></p><p><strong>9:53 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist</strong></p><p><strong>14:23 Stablecoins: where they work, why Mercury won't launch its own</strong></p><p><strong>20:13 LinkedIn - Thanks to our partners at LinkedIn! Post your job for free at https://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs' new AI assistant.</strong></p><p><strong>22:38 AI agents, and the future of money movement</strong></p><p><strong>27:30 Why Mercury raised less this round</strong></p><p><strong>30:11 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.</strong></p><p><strong>42:48 Avi Patel (Kled) joins to discuss copycat startups</strong></p><p><strong>57:06 Jason's verdict on YC's hacker culture & "appearance of impropriety"</strong></p><p><strong>1:17:39 Sam Altman's $2M-in-tokens-for-equity offer to YC founders</strong></p><p><strong>1:24:32 NYC hotel housekeepers cross $100K in time under new union contract</strong></p><p><strong>1:30:14 Minimum wage, immigration & the case for raising it slowly</strong></p><p><strong>Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter:</strong><a href="https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com"><strong> https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com</strong></a></p><p><strong>Check out the TWIST500:</strong><a href="https://www.twist500.com"><strong> https://www.twist500.com</strong></a></p><p><strong>Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple:</strong><a href="https://rb.gy/v19fcp"><strong> https://rb.gy/v19fcp</strong></a></p><p><strong>Follow Lon:</strong></p><p><strong>X:</strong><a href="https://x.com/lons"><strong> https://x.com/lons</strong></a></p><p><strong>Follow Alex:</strong></p><p><strong>X:</strong><a href="https://x.com/alex"><strong> https://x.com/alex</strong></a></p><p><strong>LinkedIn:</strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/"><strong> https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm</strong></a></p><p><strong>Follow Jason:</strong></p><p><strong>X:</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/Jason"><strong> https://twitter.com/Jason</strong></a></p><p><strong>LinkedIn:</strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis"><strong> https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis</strong></a></p><p><strong>Check out all our partner offers:</strong><a href="https://partners.launch.co/"><strong> https://partners.launch.co/</strong></a></p><p><strong>Great TWIST interviews:</strong><a href="https://youtu.be/pvJa2pzuXWQ"><strong> Will Guidara,</strong></a><a href="https://youtu.be/9dHN4YFkgv4"><strong> Eoghan McCabe</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-on-mod-revolt-building-a/id315114957?i=1000617333424"><strong> Steve Huffman</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-on-early-rejection-customer/id315114957?i=1000611761112"><strong> Brian Chesky</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://youtu.be/y2UMzSqX94Q"><strong> Bob Moesta,</strong></a><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/box-ceo-aaron-levie-breaks-down-box-ai-and-generative/id315114957?i=1000612384545"><strong> Aaron Levie</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sophia-amoruso-on-branding-raising-a-fund-portfolio/id315114957?i=1000601352978"><strong> Sophia Amoruso</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reid-hoffman-on-ais-crescendo-moment-regulation-and/id315114957?i=1000612548498"><strong> Reid Hoffman</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/snowflake-ceo-frank-slootman-on-moving-the-needle-win/id315114957?i=1000602560622"><strong> Frank Slootman</strong></a><strong>,</strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/billy-mcfarland-on-fyre-fest-fraud-failure-hacking/id315114957?i=1000610922577"><strong> Billy McFarland</strong></a></p><p><strong>Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters:</strong><a href="https://substack.com/@calacanis"><strong> https://substack.com/@calacanis</strong></a></p><p><strong>Follow TWiST:</strong></p><p><strong>Twitter:</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/TWiStartups"><strong> https://twitter.com/TWiStartups</strong></a></p><p><strong>YouTube:</strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin"><strong> https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin</strong></a></p><p><strong>Instagram:</strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups"><strong> https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups</strong></a></p><p><strong>TikTok:</strong><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups"><strong> https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups</strong></a></p><p><strong>Substack:</strong><a href="https://twistartups.substack.com"><strong> https://twistartups.substack.com</strong></a></p><p></p>
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My First Million
Mohnish Pabrai: How to be a top 1% investorGet Mohnish's 9 investment principles: https://clickhubspot.com/kwdo Episode 827: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) sits down with Mohnish Pabrai to break down the mental models that made him a billionaire value investor. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (1:25) Mental models of the top 1% (3:38) The mistress is always hotter than the wife (6:37) Introduce Randomness in your life (10:47) Humans are poor at copying (20:13) Take a simple idea seriously (23:02) Be and inch wide and a mile deep (30:29) Never use Excel (35:03) Wait for fat pitches (39:38) the stock market is like a church with a casino (44:01) Paying $650,000 to have lunch with Warren Buffett (45:43) The cautionary tale of Rick Guerin (47:22) The inner score card (49:25) The future of Berkshire Hathaway (51:29) Mohnish’s best investment (1:02:39) The hardest question (1:06:16) How to beat the index (1:11:25) Mohnish's stock picks for 2026 (1:22:26) S&P 500 (1:24:57) life advice disguised as investing advice (1:29:32) Studying the greatest investors (1:37:51) if you remember nothing else, remember this — Links: Mohnish Part 1: This Guy Copy-Pasted Warren Buffett’s Strategy (And Became A Billionaire) Mohnish Part 2: Go from $10,000 to $1M in just 3 years The Dhando Investor - https://a.co/d/0hkx1t8g — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
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The Origins and Future of a 9-Figure SMB Holdco<p>Gant Elmore and Matt Moldenhauer each bought $2m businesses they built over years. Today their holdco does over $200m. </p><p>Register for the webinar:</p><ul><li><a href="https://bit.ly/4dMvx4w">Revenue Recognition & Quality of Revenue in SMB Deals</a> - TOMORROW!! - https://bit.ly/4dMvx4w</li></ul><p>Topics in Matt & Gant’s interview:</p><ul><li>3 generations of acquisition entrepreneurs</li><li>Matt started as operator, became partner</li><li>Bain mentors warned Matt not to do ETA</li><li>Goal of owning 50 companies by 2050</li><li>Being the Ferrari in a price-competitive industry</li><li>Why they prefer holding to exiting</li><li>Challenge of giving control to an operator</li><li>Gant and his dad teach ETA together</li><li>War stories from small business operations</li><li>Demand exceeds supply of great businesses</li></ul><p>References and how to contact Matt & Gant:</p><ul><li><a href="https://elmorecompanies.com/">Elmore Companies</a></li><li><a href="mailto:matt.moldenhauer@elmorecompanies.com">matt.moldenhauer@elmorecompanies.com</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-moldenhauer-16b92411/">Matt’s LinkedIn</a></li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gantelmore/">Gant’s LinkedIn</a></li></ul><p>Download the New CEO’s Guide to Human Resources from Aspen HR:</p><ul><li><a href="https://aspenhr.com/new-ceos-guide-to-hr-download/">From this page</a> or contact <a href="mailto:jenny@aspenhr.com">jenny@aspenhr.com</a></li></ul><p>Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):</p><ul><li><a href="https://landing.systemsix.com/acquire">Book a call with Tim</a> or <a href="mailto:hello@systemsix.com">hello@systemsix.com</a> and mention Acquiring Minds</li></ul><p>Get a complimentary IT audit for acquisition diligence or post-close transition.</p><ul><li>Visit <a href="http://www.inzotechnologies.com/eta?utm_source=acquiringminds&utm_medium=referral">inzotechnologies.com/eta</a>.</li></ul><p>Connect with Acquiring Minds:</p><ul><li>See past + future interviews on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/AcquiringMinds">YouTube channel</a></li><li>Connect with host <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/willsmithsf/">Will Smith on LinkedIn</a></li><li>Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/whentheresawill">Will on Twitter</a></li></ul><p>Edited by Anton Rohozov and produced by Pam Cameron</p>
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Episode 833 | Success Patterns of Nobel Laureates, Developing Expertise, and From Zero to $10k (A Rob Solo Adventure)What do Nobel Prize winners and successful bootstrappers have in common? In this solo episode, Rob Walling shares the story of how a TinySeed company went from near-zero revenue to $10,000-$20,000 a month almost overnight, breaks down Claude Shannon's research on the habits that separated Nobel laureates from forgotten scientists, and explores why deep expertise looks like magic from the outside. Episode Sponsor: You're about to close a massive deal, and then your customer's legal team asks what happens if you get hacked. That's the nightmare YSecurity solves. They're 40 security engineers who've worked at Apple, Uber, Microsoft, Robinhood, Brex, and more. You don't hire them, you rent them by the hour, no massive salary, no expensive consultants. Just real experts helping you get SOC 2, ISO, and more. Set a monthly cap, know exactly what you're spending, and close the deal. Head to ysecurity.io/startups to book your free strategy call. Your first 8 hours are completely free. Topics we cover: (2:46) – BlinkMetrics: from no product-market fit to $10-20K/month (8:31) – 104 coffee chats, 24 sales calls (10:25) – AI changes custom dashboard economics (12:53) – What separates Nobel winners from the forgotten (14:40) – Knowledge compounds like interest (18:28) – Taking bigger swings vs. staying in your comfort zone (19:36) – Going deep on one idea for years (21:21) – Expertise that looks like magic Links from the show: MicroConf Europe ┃Reykjavik, Iceland · Sept 21–23, 2026 MicroConf Connect BlinkMetrics Claude Shannon Bell Labs lecture Why most indie hackers aren't succeeding┃Baretto (tiiny.com) Stephen Curry got that sixth sense when it comes to the rim The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling TinySeed SaaS Accelerator Rob Walling on YouTube Rob Walling (@robwalling)┃X If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you! Subscribe & Review: iTunes |Spotify
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Acquiring Minds
Rolling Up an Industry with 1.5x Multiples<p>Truc Nguyen has acquired 2 nail salons, an overlooked but fragmented industry where businesses trade at low multiples.</p><p>Register for the webinar:</p><ul><li><a href="https://bit.ly/4eQfCTR">Negotiating Working Capital in SMB Acquisitions</a> - Tue, May 26 - https://bit.ly/4eQfCTR</li></ul><p>Topics in Truc’s interview:</p><ul><li>Why she chose the nail salon industry</li><li>Her vision for a rollup</li><li>Analyzing a current nail salon business listing</li><li>Low multiples in the nail space</li><li>Bargaining power of good nail techs</li><li>Square footage and number of chairs matters</li><li>Documenting SOPs for her first salon</li><li>Staffing a 7-day-a-week business</li><li>Creating a great company culture</li><li>The changing face of nail salons</li></ul><p>References and how to contact Truc:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/truc-nguyen-9697aa40/">LinkedIn</a></li><li>Sarah Romer on Acquiring Minds: <a href="http://acquiringminds.co/articles/sarah-romer-bella-salon">How to Buy a Salon as an Industry Outsider (and Survive)</a></li></ul><p>Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:</p><ul><li><a href="https://bit.ly/3W6QqNx">Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team</a></li></ul><p>Work with an SBA loan team focused exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:</p><ul><li><a href="https://bit.ly/43gVGBX">Pioneer Capital Advisory</a></li></ul><p>The ecosystem for serious acquisition entrepreneurs—education, capital, community, and post-close support to buy and grow a business:</p><ul><li><a href="https://bit.ly/3JPAYQI">The Acquisition Lab</a></li></ul><p>Connect with Acquiring Minds:</p><ul><li>See past + future interviews on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/AcquiringMinds">YouTube channel</a></li><li>Connect with host <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/willsmithsf/">Will Smith on LinkedIn</a></li><li>Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/whentheresawill">Will on Twitter</a></li></ul><p>Edited by Anton Rohozov and produced by Pam Cameron</p>