This Week in Startups

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Superhuman: http://superhuman.com/ Paypal: http://paypal.launch.co Odoo: http://Odoo.com/twist Plaud: http://Plaud.ai/twist Harmonic: http://harmonic.ai/

Today’s show:

Hugging Face built a $399 open-source robot duck as a side quest, and sold 16,000 units off a single tweet. Co-founder Thomas Wolf joins Jason and Lon to explain Microduck happened, why storage is the company's real business, and what it felt like to get hacked by OpenAI's agents.

Jason takes apart Gavin Newsom's new AI "kill switch" executive order: if these models are so dangerous, why not start with the same KYC every bank already requires? PLUS, Snap’s new AI-integrated glasses could be a game-changer.

Guests:

Thomas Wolf on X: https://x.com/Thom_Wolf Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/

Relevant Links:

Hugging Face — https://huggingface.co/

Microduck — https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/

Pollen Robotics — https://pollen-robotics.com/

OpenAI: the Hugging Face incident and the road ahead — https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/

Governor Newsom's executive order — https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/californias-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-weigh-ai-oversight-including-kill-switch-3a98040f

Anthropic Wet Lab — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/18/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-lab-as-it-ramps-ai-drug-program-report.html

Lucid and Bolt to deploy 25,000 autonomous EVs across Europe — https://electrek.co/2026/09/17/lucid-bolt-25000-autonomous-evs-europe/

Snap opens pre-orders for Specs at $2,195 — https://www.specs.com/

Ray-Ban Meta Display — the $799 comparison https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/

Clavicular at All-In Summit — https://x.com/clavicular/status/2099994778616348811?s=20

Physical: 100 (the Korean original) → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical:_100

Bad Therapy — https://www.abigailshrier.com/

Full Show Notes and Transcript from Pluad: https://web.plaud.ai/s/pub_194de893-8c55-4d77-81db-a6b278159a44::o9QfImqCq5VS0F_dqm4J93eTeyb-GsIeXCLwqASnvYAmt5f59OLQz5-VN1epnq6DBLoZWFales_7IbgC

Timestamps:

0:00 Guest: Thomas Wolf, co-founder & chief science officer, Hugging Face

4:17 Two years to build Microduck

8:43 How Hugging Face actually makes money: storage, not tokens

10:16 Superhuman - Superhuman Go is an AI chat that's always there when you need it, already aware of what you're doing, and doesn't ask you to start from zero. Sign up to get the best in AI at https://superhuman.com

17:18 Vibe-coding robotics: "train this new behavior for me"

20:00 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co

23:20 Thomas Wolf's P-doom and the airplane-safety analogy

25:18 The Nvidia acquisition and what changes for open models

29:57 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist

38:39 Inside the Hugging Face breach: stolen credentials and basic mistakes

43:33 News: Newsom's executive order and the frontier-model "kill switch"

45:04 Jason's counter-proposal: liability, insurance, and KYC for AI

1:00:08 News: Lucid and Bolt to put 25,000 robotaxis on European roads

1:10:01 News: Snap opens pre-orders for $2,195 Specs AR glasses

1:21:43 Off-Duty: Clavicular, the All-In Summit

1:31:01 Off-Duty: Physical 100 goes to Italy and Mexico

Subscribe to TWiST on Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com/

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Lon:

X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/Jason

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

The TWiST AI Basics series is made possible by Google for Startups!
Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here: https://goo.gle/technical_guide

Today's show:
The demo works, the vibes are immaculate, but then the app falls apart the second real users touch it. On today's AI Basics, Temporal co-founder and CEO Samar Abbas says the problem isn't with the model at all. You're missing a harness, the layer that keeps an AI agent's work durable, secure, and recoverable if/when something breaks.
Temporal's durable execution platform is used by major companies from OpenAI to Stripe to Netflix, and helps to make their long-running software reliable and interruption-free.
On AI Basics, he explains why so many AI-coded prototypes die in the imagineering stage, before ever hitting production. Plus he walks Jason through Temporal's live dashboard, to show how it gives developers full visibility into what their agents are doing at every step.
Guest and Relevant Links:
Samar Abbas on X: https://x.com/SamarAtTemporal
Temporal: https://temporal.io/
Temporal raises $550M at a $12.55B valuation: https://temporal.io/blog/temporal-raises-usd550m-series-e-at-usd12-55b-valuation-ai
GeekWire: Samar Abbas on the "massive platform shift" in AI: https://www.geekwire.com/2026/temporal-ceo-samar-abbas-on-the-massive-platform-shift-in-ai-fueling-the-startups-5b-valuation/
Temporal expands Google Cloud partnership: https://temporal.io/blog/temporal-expands-google-cloud-partnership-with-pay-as-you-go-pricing
Timestamps:
0:00 Why every startup needs an AI harness
2:12 Why 90% of AI prototypes never reach production
4:16 What happens when an agent crashes mid-task
7:00 A look at Temporal's dashboard
13:02 OK but what is a "harness" exactly?
15:30 When to graduate an agent from laptop to production
17:44 Organizing agents into teams

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Thank you to our partner!
Build context-aware AI workflows using DeepMind models and orchestration tools with Google for Startups' new Startup technical guide on generative media. Get the guide here:
https://goo.gle/technical_guide
Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out our suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@thisweekininc

Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Quo: http://quo.com/TWiST
The Conservation Fund: https://conservationfund.org
CLA: https://app.notion.com/p/withyou-help-eb83a84d32cf43f59af13cb11e2f56c3?source=copy_link
Today's show:
A 27-year-old Anthropic researcher quit last week warning that AI could cause human extinction, and by Friday, a caller's 76-year-old mother was texting her in a panic. Jason's answer: the labs are already shipping the safeguards Doomers say don't exist.
On an all live calls episode of TWiST, learn about the AI implications Jason is actually scared of, and why it involves a terrorist cell and a thousand cheap drones. PLUS, who is liable when one AI prompts another AI into launching a meme coin, and can a 1.5-3 megawatt cannabis facility be converted into a data center?
Relevant Links:
Anthropic Resignee — https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/anthropic-safety-researcher-resigned-warning-rapid-ai-development-gamb-rcna596767
OpenAI's Navier-Stokes claim— https://www.science.org/content/article/how-ai-math-breakthrough-ignited-controversy
CNBC: Tristan Buckmaster's challenge to the claim — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/openai-navier-stokes-math-problem-solved.html
NVIDIA GB200 Grace Blackwell —https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/gb200-nvl72/
Composio's walkthrough of how Grok Bot actually works — https://composio.dev/content/guide-to-frok-bot
Timestamps:

0:00 (Question) Jim, from the midterm Republican convention floor: is AI really going to kill us all — and is local AI the mitigation?
5:31 Where Terminator 2's logic breaks down
9:42 The threat Jason is actually scared of: slaughter drones and murder bots
9:54 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST
10:05 (Question) Michael Lee, who's responsible when one AI prompts another into launching a meme coin?
17:32 (Question) Lyda, calling from Greece: can an independent AI ecosystem still exist
19:03 The Conservation Fund - Find out more about how The Conservation Fund is protecting land, wildlife, and our shared access to the great outdoors while also providing economic opportunities. Visit https://conservationfund.org
21:08 (Question) John Wright: do you have to carve out more time now just to keep up with the tools?
25:42 Claude's caution vs. Grok's "hold my beer"
26:33 (Question) John Wright, part two: do you expect founders to get more done now
26:55 The three buckets: 10x, 5x, and the 20% crowd
29:22 CLA - Get started with CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors now at https://claconnect.com/tech at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou
30:01 (Question) Ray, Vortex Console: can human-in-the-loop actually work at enterprise scale?
33:25 (Question) Kristen Dahl: how do you explain AI risk to your 76-year-old mom?
35:13 Why the chaos only happens at OpenAI and Anthropic
43:36 (Question) David Rosenberg, NYU physics: what's behind the academic backlash to AI solving Navier-Stokes?
53:35 Advice for a 20-year-old: find two smart people, build weird things
54:29 (Question) David's follow-up: any chance of an All-In Summit scholarship
56:21 (Question) Mo: can a cannabis cultivation facility be converted into a data center
1:02:30 (Question) Mo's follow-up: Mark Cuban's pickleball courts and the efficiency curve

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:
X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
DigitalOcean — Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.
Odoo: The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started for today at Odoo.com/twist
Upwork helps businesses find highly skilled freelance professionals for specialized work. Post your job for free at upwork.com

Today's show:
The Pentagon is reportedly in talks to lend AI cloud startup Fluidstack $5. billion, and Jason thinks the real story isn't the loan itself. It's the US government owning equity in private AI companies, and competing directly with venture capital.
Plus returning friend of the pod Tibo Louis-Lucas shows us how he runs seven companies with fewer than 10 people by stacking AI agents. Can a few $200/month AI subscriptions really do the work of an entire marketing team? Tibo seems to think so.
Plus it's Off-Duty Friday, so Jason and Lon are reviewing some current streaming favorites, and commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with some personal stories.
Check out the full summary and transcript of today's episode from Plaud: https://web.plaud.ai/s/pub_213fdb2e-a65e-4901-b5fc-57a4f1e357a1::ZvclWNOK-PPr-9atxIDVG2tpGYUJxiklGAzVbHd9aJRBMSd6ef8l4hG7j_mUAyNTYTXS_Ha1XlEm8fYC
Guests:
Tibo Louis-Lucas on X: https://x.com/tibo_maker
Squad: https://squad.so/
Relevant Links:
Fluidstack: https://www.fluidstack.io
Google-Fluidstack warrants deal details: https://cointelegraph.com/news/google-acquires-5-4-stake-in-bitcoin-mining-company-cipher-mining-in-ai-deal
Center for Public Integrity: Solyndra timeline: https://publicintegrity.org/politics/missed-warning-signs-a-solyndra-timeline/
The Hill: Energy Dept. loses $139M in Fisker auto loan default: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/191258-energy-dept-loses-139-million-in-auto-loan-gone-bad/
Apple iPhone Duo: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/09/apple-unveils-iphone-duo/
Apple Mac Studio: https://www.apple.com/mac-studio/
Sonos: https://www.sonos.com/
Amazon Fire TV: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=8521791011
UniFi: https://www.ui.com/
Lanterns trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIBOsuUwc4
Dark Matter Season 2 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhB6_1UbR7s
"Robin" biography by Dave Itzkoff: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1627794247
What Dreams May Come trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZ-FuBThuQ
Huffington Post on the Robin Williams-Disney feud: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/robin-williams-disney-feud-aladdin-picasso_uk_6a7cc304e4b079a0b2ec2233
Keith Roma: the 344th firefighter lost, remembered: https://www.firerescue1.com/9-11/articles/the-firefighter-everyone-forgot-about-on-911-142cs6WyLmn2FDib/
Timestamps:
0:00 Remembering 9/11, 25 Years Later
9:10 Are we about to nationalize the AI industry?
9:53 DigitalOcean - Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%.
20:30 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist
21:45 Apple's foldable iPhone Duo
29:43 Upwork - Upwork helps businesses find highly skilled freelance professionals for specialized work. Post your job for free at https://upwork.com
38:04 Tibo Louis-Lucas returns to TWiST
41:47 The affiliate update email that runs on autopilot
46:40 Why you should "stack" multiple AI subscriptions
52:57 Squad's ideal customer is a solo founder
54:11 Jason digs Hal Jordan on "Lanterns"
1:00:19 Lon reviews Apple's "Dark Matter"
1:03:39 Remembering Robin Williams
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:
X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/

Today's show:
One of YouTube's three co-founders left for grad school and walked away with a fraction of what his partners made on the Google sale. Becki DeGraw of Wilson Sonsini joins Jason for Startup Legal Basics to explain the vesting schedule behind that gap, and why you want one even if you never take a dollar of venture money.
Learn how VCs actually respond when a founder says "I've already put in four years," and the exact language Jason gives founders to turn one term sheet into three. PLUS, why is an inactive advisor still vesting your equity, and who wrote those performance milestones?
Guests:
Becki DeGraw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/
Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/
Relevant Links:
Becki DeGraw — partner in WSGR's San Francisco office — https://www.wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html
TechCrunch broke the YouTube story— https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/09/google-has-acquired-youtube/
Sequoia Capital — https://www.sequoiacap.com/
Roelof Botha — led Sequoia's YouTube investment and later ran the firm globally → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roelof_Botha
ESOP / employee stock option pool — https://thisweekinstartups.com/basics
Founder & advisor equity documents — https://www.wsgr.com/en/services/practice-areas/corporate/emerging-companies.html
Timestamps: 0:06 Becki DeGraw on why founder equity is "near and dear" to every founder
1:53 Founder vesting explained
3:49 Why you want vesting even if you never take VC money
6:05 "Why do I have to vest again?"
7:32 Leverage is a function of how many offers you have
10:36 The exact script for landing a second term sheet
14:37 Don't let an AI write your three-page vesting schedule
18:19 Character in Silicon Valley: it's a small world after all
19:49 Take the emotion out of it

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:
X: https://x.com/lons

Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com