M&A Mania, Palantir Meme Crash + Office Hours with Hookhub | E2105

Today's show: Circle gears up for its IPO and the stablecoin wars heat up, Palantir's meme stock status gets a reality check, and they riff on a possible Uber + DoorDash merger and whether AI should train on Substack content. They react to Sequoia partner Andrew Reed's inside take on fund dynamics, laugh at a brutal VC meme, and wrap with "Office Hours" featuring Caylee Harrington, founder of Hookhub — the Airbnb for RV parking — to talk vanlife, growth, and building in an unsexy market. * Timestamps: (0:00) Alex and Jason kicks off the show! (1:29) Palantir's stock and market dynamics (5:43) Meme stocks and reversion to the mean (6:57) X and XAI merger (10:01) Squarespace - TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (12:05) M&A trends in tech and AI content acquisitions (17:22) Valuation strategies for acquisitions (22:05) Oracle - TWiST listeners can try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at ⁠⁠⁠https://www.oracle.com/twist⁠ (23:31) Circle's IPO and stablecoin regulations (30:46) Fidelity Private Shares - Visit ⁠https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com⁠! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription. (32:26) Crypto community and anti-money laundering in stablecoins (37:43) IPO and SPAC updates in tech (41:20) Deep tech investment risks and lessons from SPACs (44:03) Hookhub's journey and RV market insights (49:27) Growth and challenges in RV market (52:01) Hookhub's social media and content strategy (58:48) Hookhub's investor pitch and growth strategy (1:04:11) Van life business model potential (1:06:16) Sequoia's internal culture and investment strategy (1:13:03) Sequoia vs. Andreessen Horowitz and VC indexing (1:15:32) Venture capital humor and closing remarks * 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 * Links from the show: Hookhub: https://www.hookhub.co/ * Follow Caylee: X: https://x.com/Mariano_APO LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariano-apodaca-45b07a16a/ v 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 * Thank you to our partners: (10:01) Squarespace - TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (22:05) Oracle - TWiST listeners can try OCI and save up to 50% on your cloud bill at ⁠https://www.oracle.com/twist⁠ (30:46) Fidelity Private Shares - Visit ⁠⁠https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com⁠⁠! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription. * 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 * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916