The Self-Driving Unicorn You Need to Meet & MicroStrategy's Bitcoin Bet | E2052

Todays show: Jason and Alex welcomed Alex Kendall to the show. He's the founder and CEO of Wayve, an AI company working on self-driving. You might recall that Wayve raised $1 billion earlier this year, but TWIST wanted to know how the company intends to commercialize -- and how soon. From there, it was back to the bitcoin mines. Figuratively, as the hosts dug into MicroStrategies' bitcoin buying bet. Precisely why it is trading at such a NAV premium remains occluded to the show, but we did chase down its debt terms. Next week: More TWiST500! * Timestamps: (0:00) Jason and Alex kick off the show (2:32) Introduction of guest Alex Kendall Co-Founder & CEO of Wayve (3:00) Alex Kendall on Wayve's autonomous driving approach and AI technology (8:29) LiDAR vs. camera-first solutions debate (10:19) Cloud Devs - Visit https://www.clouddevs.com/twist for an unbeatable offer on hiring elite Latam talent today. (12:23) Economic viability and strategy of autonomous vehicles (17:49) Timeline for Wave's technology deployment and future market scenarios (19:58) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist (22:34) Autonomy subscription models and AI driving behavior challenges (30:01) Kyte - Download the Kyte app today and use code JASON to save 10% on your first rental. (33:00) AI driving culture and Twist 500 update (37:05) MicroStrategy's Bitcoin strategy and market concerns (41:33) Bitcoin convertible debt analysis (49:03) Deciphering complex business models and historical examples (51:24) Evaluating new financial terms and investor advice (52:29) Final thoughts and invitation to Michael Saylor * 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 * Mentioned on the show: Check out Wayve: https://wayve.ai/ Check out MicroStrategy: https://www.microstrategy.com/ TWiST Episode #1251 with Do Kwon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZL8iPKsHQ * Follow Alex Kendall: X: https://x.com/alexgkendall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgkendall/ * 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: (10:19) Cloud Devs - Visit https://www.clouddevs.com/twist for an unbeatable offer on hiring elite Latam talent today. (19:58) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist (30:01) Kyte - Download the Kyte app today and use code JASON to save 10% on your first rental. * 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