This Week in Startups

nvestors told Keller Cliffton his drone delivery ideas were “stupid” and even “illegal in the US.” So he built it in Rwanda, working from a cow farm, delivering blood to hospital rooftops at 2 AM. As of this week, Zipline operates the largest commercial autonomous system on Earth. Their drones have flown 130 million autonomous miles, with zero accidents, crashes, or fatalities. Sometimes the experts are wrong. Hear the whole story on today’s TWiST, recorded live at LaunchFest in SF. PLUS Rahul Vohra of Superhuman shares his complete founder journey, and why more investors should seek out “difficult” founders: (cc: @Jason, @Keller, @Zipline, @RahulVohra, @Superhuman) 0:00 Intro 1:16 Keller Cliffton starts off the show 3:05 Starting Zipline in Africa 8:40 The magic of sky maps 10:51 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at northwestregisteredagent.com/twist 13:55 Building the drone was just the beginning 15:11 Making a huge difference in maternal mortality 21:01 Circle - The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off the Circle Plus Plan by going to circle.so/twist. 23:48 The threats of Little Evil Jimmy and dogs 29:37 The shift from Rwanda to Dallas 31:14 Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at netsuite.com/twist 32:28 The moral clarity of the mission 41:17 The challenge of staying focused 46:43 Rahul Vohra of Superhuman joins Jason 49:40 Building Rapportive in Cambridge 51:48 Scaling to millions of users via APIs 1:11:46 How getting acquired made Rahul fearless 1:12:31 The boldness of taking on Gmail 1:22:12 Making everyone pay for the product 1:31:24 Inside the Grammarly-Superhuman deal 🎥 Watch the full episode here 👇

PLUS we've got @Zipline founder and CEO @Keller. Hear about why the drone and logistics company started out solving problems in Africa, how they dealt with years of rejection by investors, and why good founders are all a little naive. All on Friday TWiST, in just a few hours.

Difficult founders make the best investments. Not because they're jerks! Because they care enough to argue. We're talking about the founder journey beginning to end, and what it takes to launch a great startup, with @rahulvohra from @Superhuman on TWiST. Recorded LIVE @ LaunchFest. Coming later on today to X, YouTube, and wherever fine podcasts are streamed. (cc: @Jason)

Bittensor peeps: check out 31:44 - Templar sn3 discussed. @chamath -- they've achieved a *72* billion parameter model with decentralized training, not a 4 billion parameter model :)

One cat can change the entire perception of automatic vehicles! San Francisco tried to ban Waymo after one of its vehicles allegedly hit a cat. Robotaxis are held to unrealistic standards that even human drivers cannot meet. Do you feel safer with a human driver or a robotaxi?

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We hear a lot about open source vs. closed source… Has OpenClaw settled this debate, or is it all hype? It’s clear that larger LLMs missed out on this one, so where do they go from here?

Doctors are drowning in paperwork so badly they coined the term 'pajama time' for the charts they finish at home. Here is the solution:

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Robinhood, in the early days, didn’t care about monetizing. For them, and many other unicorns, getting users onto the platform, and understanding how they behaved was always the number one priority in the early days. Later on, when they finally enabled monetization they were able to approach it in a way that no one else had at the time!

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How much of the book market is still physical and how much has shifted to digital? Often new tech comes out and we all think it’s gonna replace the old ones. But sometimes the old versions actually have hidden value. Here, physical books have innate value in being able to have them on the shelf and show them off!

Thanks to our partners at @deel! Founders ship faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes and get back to building. Visit deel.com/twist to learn more.

Here’s the story of how @jason met @vladtenev at a bar in Silicon Valley! Helping millennials with no money trade for free was a wacky idea at the time. Do you think you would’ve made the same decision?

@Jason Wait, I think we misunderstood the assignment...

The Iron Dog is ready

@ThisWeeknAI Full ep here: x.com/ThisWeeknAI/st…

Why is AI in healthcare moving so fast right now? Because the core business model of medicine is built on documentation. 🤯 Shiv Rao drops a massive truth bomb on the reality of medical billing and why AI agents are the ultimate fix in this clip from our new show @ThisWeeknAI. Watch this:

Health (care) revolution thanks to this tiny device @paradromics built an implantable computer interface that literally gives you superpowers: prompting AI models with just your thoughts, understanding Mandarin instantly, and even controlling other devices like exoskeletons or prosthetics! Would you get this implant for yourself to become superhuman?

"Physicians can't complete their daily workload in 24 hours." The math of modern medicine is broken. @ShivdevRao explains how @AbridgeHQ is combating physician burnout by offloading documentation, allowing clinicians to reclaim their time. This Week in AI Episode 5 00:00 Shiv Rao live at LAUNCH Festival 2026 01:20 Rural hospitals & the necessity of AI agents 03:33 Designing an AI intake process for primary care 06:01 Solving The 30-Hour Workday & Clerical Burnout 08:25 Misaligned stakeholders in healthcare 11:50 Patients Prefer AI Models Over Average Clinicians 14:27 Moving past the all-knowing doctor 17:01 Automated notes restore human clinical presence 27:29 Advances In Surgical Robotics & AI Precision @Jason @launchfestival