This Week in Startups

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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Today’s show:

The US military is running low on missiles, but now, Firehawk Aerospace is using 3D-printed solid rocket propellant to cut production costs in half and 5x U.S. output.
Plus: PhD researcher Maruchi Kim just built camera-equipped earbuds that perform on par with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and could be the next wearable AI platform hiding in plain sight.
Guests
Will Edwards: https://x.com/williewockets
Firehawk Aerospace: https://firehawkdefense.com/
Maruchi Kim: https://x.com/maruchikim
VueBuds project: https://vuebuds.cs.washington.edu/
Related Links
This Week in AI: https://www.thisweekinai.ai/
“Ghost Murmur: The Heartbeat-Tracking Tech That Has Experts Questioning the Laws of Physics”: https://www.military.com/feature/2026/04/18/ghost-murmur-heartbeat-tracking-tech-has-experts-questioning-laws-of-physics.html
Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/
Meta Ray-Bans: https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/
Hanwha Defense USA: https://www.hanwhadefenseusa.com/
Raytheon: https://www.rtx.com/
Pilatus PC-24 corporate jet: https://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en/pc-24
PlaneSense: https://www.planesense.com/
Slopes app: https://slopesapp.com/
Speechify: https://speechify.com/
Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/
Timestamps:
0:00 Are all these layoffs really AI's fault?
8:51 Why laid off people should start their own companies
9:27 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://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
13:18 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!
15:25 Will Edwards of Firehawk joins the show
15:46 What are Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs)?
20:06 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.
23:10 Who are Firehawk's customers?
24:25 Reimagining and reinventing the US military
28:35 How do missiles fit into the military's operations?
29:34 Agree - Stop chasing invoices at https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!
31:01 What's next on the roadmap for Firehawk?
31:49 How to make propellant (with easy to find ingredients)
33:13 A cheaper way to fly private
38:03 Ro.co: Ro's insurance checker will let you know if your coverage includes GLP-1s for FREE. Go to https://Ro.co/Twist for your free insurance check.
40:48 Maruchi Kim of Vuebuds joins the show!
44:35 Why are VueBuds better than meta glasses?
46:23 The biggest VueBud use cases
48:09 Jason wants to use VueBuds on the slopes
55:38 Jason's advice for angel investors: never underestimate anyone!
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Follow Lon:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
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

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

LinkedIn Jobs - linkedIn.com/twist
Grasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twist
Notion - notion.com
Today’s show:
This week, SpaceX announced that it was partnering with AI coding startup Cursor on new AI models. xAI’s parent company is bringing compute, while Cursor brings developer market share and recent successes, training its own coding models.
The deal, while interesting, comes with a steep price tag. SpaceX will pay Cursor $10 billion for their shared work, with an option to buy the entire company for $60 billion later this year.
After poking our way through the deal, Chris Zacharia and Brian McRindle of Bitstarter joined Lon and Alex. Bitstarter is a ‘Kickstarter for Bittensor,’ helping founders get their subnet up and running without tripping over their shoelaces. The Bitstarter crew also broke some news on the show, telling TWIST that they have a new accelerator-ish program kicking off.
Next, Ning Ren from Trajectory RL joined the program to explain how Bittensor subnet 11 is using decentralized competitions to design and release better skills. Skills — markdown files with words — have become a critical building tool in the agentic era; how Trajectory will monetize is an open, interesting question.
Timestamps:

2:27 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!
4:07 SpaceX/ xAI "partners" with Cursor!
9:35 Will the Cursor deal help pump a future SpaceX IPO?
9:57 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist.
12:14 How AI coding models like Cursor help xAI grow recursively.
17:24 Chris Zacharia and Brian McRindle of Bitstarter join the show.
20:23 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.
29:59 Notion - Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works with AI built right in. Try Notion, with Notion Agent, at https://www.notion.com/twist
33:03 How Bittensor subnets monetize and how it compares to VC funds.
37:04 Is Bittensor hard-capped at 128 subnets?
42:37 Bittensor's biggest weakness.
46:10 Ning Ren of TrajectoryRL joins the show.
47:34 Skills now need entire agents just to write them!
48:26 Back up… What are skills?
1:07:38 Amazon and Anthropic's 5 BILLION deal
1:08:48 Google has 2 new chips!
1:09:50 Apple CEO, Tim is COOKED! John Ternus is in!
1:11:37 Alex is bullish on MacBook Neo!
Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com
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Follow Lon:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
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:
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Quo - https://quo.com/TWiST Vanta -
https://vanta.com/twist
Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist Plaud -
https://Plaud.ai/twist

Today’s show:

*Eragon CEO Josh Sirota believes that you should “own your intelligence.” He demos a live enterprise AI operating system connecting email, Slack, calendar, and financial data into a single agentic layer that’s pre-trained to understand any business inside and out.

PLUS we’ve got IONA Drones founder Etienne Louvet, a first look at Moonshot’s Kimi K2.6, and a brand new Off Duty with JCal and Lon.

FULL SHOW NOTES ON NOTION: https://thisweekinstartups-docket.notion.site/TWiST-2278-SHOW-NOTES-34872ca918e380bd9c71e684ce2db7c9?source=copy_link

Guests :
Eragon: https://eragon.ai
Josh Sirota on X: https://x.com/joshua_sirota
IONA: https://ionadrones.com/
Etienne Louvet on X: https://x.com/etienneldva
Relevant Links
Eragon Seed Round coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/18/this-startup-wants-to-make-enterprise-software-look-more-like-a-prompt/
Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/
Ollama model: https://ollama.com/
Orange Slice: https://www.orangeslice.ai/
Corgi Insurance: https://www.corgi.insure/
Slash Financial: https://www.slash.com/
The Syndicate: https://thesyndicate.com/
FAA Part 108 Explained: https://pilotinstitute.com/part-108-explained/
Zipline: https://www.zipline.com/
Google Wing: https://wing.com/
Joby Aviation: https://www.jobyaviation.com/
Enterprise Ireland: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/
Éire Composites: https://www.eirecomposites.com/
Kimi K2.6 blog post: https://www.kimi.com/blog/kimi-k2-6
Kimi K2 series on GitHub: https://github.com/moonshotai/Kimi-K2
NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 work station: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/gb300-nvl72/

Timestamps:
0:00 Josh from Eragon AI joins the show
2:01 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!
5:07 Why founders should own and control their data sets
8:33 What is a "company world model?"
9:48 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
11:32 Eragon demo
15:55 Giving agents their own bank accounts
19:07 Inside Eragon's first partnerships
20:14 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist
25:50 How does Eragon make money?
29:11 Pilot - Visit https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.
39:33 Etienne Louvet of Iona Drones joins the show
42:37 What is FAA's Part 108?
47:13 How innovation in drones impacts the aviation industry
50:26 Working with Enterprise Ireland
58:28 Jason attended the Breakthrough Awards
1:04:10 Doug Liman's AI-powered "Bitcoin" movie
1:09:09 "Love Story" on FX and "Dust Bunny" on HBO Max
1:13:10 Jason's love of tinned fish
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 Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
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:
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

This Week In Startups is made possible by:IM8 Health - https://IM8health.com/twist Grasshopper Bank - https://grasshopper.bank/twist Northwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:Is 3D printing the key to not just solving the housing crisis but bringing us all into a more beautiful and utopian future? ICON founder Jason Ballard thinks so. His company is already building homes for the unhoused and delivering barracks to Fort Bliss at half the cost and a fraction of the time. On TWiST, he tells us space construction is also on the agenda.Explore the potential for robot-powered concrete construction can help build cheap homes for the unhoused, modernize our military infrastructure, AND colonize the solar system in this exclusive interview.Then Seby Rubino of Resi Labs demos his real estate “Oracle,” which can guess the price of any home with 98% accuracy… for just fractions of a penny.PLUS Jason tells a story of the rare founder who got one over on him, and why he’s moving away from vengeance and anger and into love and acceptable.AND we’ve got more JCal and Lon recommendations in a brand-new Off Duty.Guests :Jason Ballard: https://x.com/JasonDBallardICON: https://www.iconbuild.com/ICON on X: https://x.com/ICON3DTechSeby Rubino: https://x.com/SebyverseResi Labs: https://portal.resilabs.ai/Timestamps:0:00 Intro + "balance the ledger" tease1:10 Jason Ballard (ICON) joins — 3D-printed homes + defense (ICON Prime)5:18 Housing basics: commutes, quality of life, "food/water/shelter"7:15 ICON Prime: military construction, survivability, speed, supply chain10:08 IM8 Health: Start feeling like your best self every day. Go to https://IM8health.com/twist and use the code TWiST to get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order.11:35 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!12:43 Fort Bliss barracks: 10 in 6 months, half the cost; blast/ballistics20:23 Beautiful + dignified housing: Community First Village; "where's the floor?"20:29 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.30:10 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://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist37:27 Audience Q&A: longevity/cracking; plumbing + electrical41:33 ICON Titan printer + channel partners; hiring pitch45:47 Sebi Rubino (Rezzy Labs) joins — BitTensor subnet 46 real estate pricing51:18 Tau/BitTensor explained: subnet competitions, "narrow intelligence"59:15 Rezzy demo: portal + pricing engine; customers + business model1:07:49 "Got shivved for 500k" story: acquisition, investors get zero1:20:36 Bounties: annotated.com + AI sidebar + headless CMS on BitTensor1:31:10 Off-duty: View Buds (camera earbuds) + use cases1:38:13 Off-duty: Anker charger/cable/battery "trio"1:41:12 Off-duty: The Audacity (AMC) quick review1:46:43 Wrap-up + secret TWiST group chat on XSubscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.comCheck out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.comSubscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcpFollow Lon:X: https://x.com/lonsFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisCheck 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 McFarlandCheck out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

This Week In Startups is made possible by:
LinkedIn Jobs - LinkedIn.com/twist Every.io - every.io Render - render.com/twist
Today’s show:
*Imagine scrolling through mobile games the way your flip through your TikTok feed. What if you could build your own game in 90 seconds and share it with the world? That’s what over 100,000 users are enjoying right now on Nanogram.
On TWiST, we meet the co-founders: 22-year-old CEO Albert Brotherton and 24-year-old CTO Boris Radilov. They demo the app for us on the air, and Jason immediately spies the potential. Power users are playing 25+ games per session already.
We’re digging into the co-founders future plans, including the potential for ads in your game feed, in this TWiST exclusive.
PLUS domestic helper bots are here. NEO from 1X Technologies can do the laundry, open the door for guests, and even read and understand Post-It Note messages.
Alex talks with CEO Bernt Børnich about building the safety-first 66-lb humanoid, why world models are so crucial for training robots in particular, and why homes are even tougher places for robots to navigate than factory floors.
Timestamps:0:59 Nanogram co-creators Albert and Boris join the show
3:42 Nanogram is TikTok for casual AI-generated games
4:27 Building Nanogram with Google Gemini
5:49 Draper and Associates: https://www.draper.vc
6:11 Integrating ads into the game feed
7:36 Roblox: https://www.roblox.com World of Warcraft: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com
8:25 Building in New York
9:07 Jason is obsessed with the Staples Baddie https://www.tiktok.com/@blivxx
10:12 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist
20:36 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io
21:40 1X CEO and founder Bernt Børnich joins the show https://x.com/BerntBornich
22:31 Designing robots to actually live around people
26:30 Teaching NEO about movement in the physical world
29:00 TechCrunch coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/13/neo-humanoid-maker-1x-releases-world-model-to-help-bots-learn-what-they-see/
29:58 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.
31:04 Moving beyond training data to true general intelligence
33:17 Ensuring NEO pursues the safest possible path
34:19 Why are world models so important?
41:51 1X World Model Challenge on GitHub: https://github.com/1x-technologies/1xgpt
45:14 Robots need to train on a lot of data… Where does it all come from?
50:14 Manufacturing NEO from raw materials in San Carlos
56:32 Robots building robots
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 Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
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
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Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com