Top News | Bybit hacked!: Thieves made away with nearly $1.5 billion in ETH from one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges this week, crashing prices across the board. It’s believed to be among the largest crypto hacks in history. Arkham Intelligence, citing the work of online sleuth ZachXBT, has identified North Korea’s Lazarus Group as the most likely culprit. OpenAI shifting over to SoftBank?: The Information reports that OpenAI expects to get around 3/4ths of its data center capacity from SoftBank’s Stargate project by 2030, marking a significant move away from Microsoft. That’s despite Microsoft being OpenAI’s largest backer by far, with a $14 billion invested to date. AI search startup raises $100M: Genspark aims to take on Google head-to-head in the search space, improving on their results via an AI model that gives users context on links before they click. The company already has 2 million monthly active users. CEO Eric Jing is a veteran of Baidu’s AI smartphone and smart speaker unit, Xiaodu.
| TWiST500 | Jason did an interview this week with Castelion co-founder and CEO Bryon Hargis, who’s trying to help America’s military catch up with the Chinese, specifically on hypersonic missile technology. These are missiles that move at ridiculous speeds, up to five times the speed of sound, and they can sneak around most conventional air defense systems. | Innovation in this field is particularly important. If other world powers develop sufficiently evolved anti-missile defense systems, then our weapons stockpile ceases to present a real and viable deterrent. To remain a global power, the US will need state-of-the-art weapons that can reliably connect with their targets. | While the US is a bit behind the Chinese on this tech, Hargis is hopeful that it’s not too late to catch up. His company recently raised $100 million in new funding to pour back into product development. - Lon |
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| If most of your advertising dollars are going to digital ads, it’s time to diversify! Out-of-home advertising, like billboards, offers low cost, high value reach. AdQuick makes it easy to plan, buy and measure all in one place. Visit adquick.com/twist and mention TWIST to get $1000 off your first campaign. | This Week in Startups | E2087: It’s an all-news episode! Jason and Lon survey the collapse of EV truck startup Nikola, and suggest advice for founders looking to avoid the same pitfalls. Plus they take a look at Superhuman’s new AI email upgrade AND discuss ways Sam Altman could have avoided all of his top people jumping ship and launching their own OpenAI competitors. | E2086: Jason and Alex break down one of the craziest crypto stories yet - a $100M meme coin meltdown, insider trading, and Argentina’s president caught in the middle. Coffeezilla joins the show to explain how memecoins are rigged, why Dave Portnoy got a $5M refund while everyone else got wrecked, and what really went down with the LIBRA token. | E2085: IPO shakeups, big AI moves, and essential founder hacks—this episode covers it all. Jason breaks down Robinhood’s 6X stock surge and his strategy for $HOOD, plus the latest on tech IPOs as Turo pulls out and SailPoint surges. We dive into AI’s open-source battle, with X.ai chasing a $10B raise and DeepSeek challenging Hugging Face. And for founders, Jason shares the startup golden rule you should break for success—plus, a brand-new startup idea he’s willing to fund right now. | TWiST Partner Offers | Gusto: Gusto is easy online payroll, benefits, and HR built for modern small businesses. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at https://www.gusto.com/twist Lemon.io: Hire pre-vetted remote developers, get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist Atlassian: From MVP to IPO, Atlassian for Startups provides your team the right tools to plan, track and collaborate on work. Head to https://www.atlassian.com/software/startups to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.
| Founder University | Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 10, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Spring 2025! | | The TWiST500 newsletter is the new, updated, and improved TWiST Ticker. |
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