Twilio Bets Small, DeepSeek Scares & the GameOn Fraud | E2076

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Fitbod. Get 25% off your Fitbod subscription or try out the app for FREE when you sign up: fitbod.me/TWIST Squarespace. TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST Horatio. Visit https://www.hirehoratio.com/twist and get $2,000 off your initial set up. Today's show: Jason and Alex cover Twilio's team size compression, DeepSeek's scary good AI for only $6M and the GameOn fraud saga that sounds too crazy to be true. Timestamps: (0:00) Alex and Jason kick off the show (6:27) Rundown of potential topics (7:10) Twilio's team size strategy and AI's impact on workforce (9:40) Fitbod. Get 25% off your Fitbod subscription or try out the app for FREE when you sign up: fitbod.me/TWIST (14:52) Entrepreneurship in the AI era and automation concerns (19:30) Squarespace. TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (22:49) Meta's investment in data centers and surplus compute power (26:36) Technology's potential to solve humanity's problems (30:12) Horatio. Visit https://www.hirehoratio.com/twist and get $2,000 off your initial set up. (32:01) Empathy for workers displaced by automation (34:11) DeepSeq's role in reducing AI industry costs (37:27) Game On startup fraud case and due diligence in startups (53:13) Venture capital's role in startup oversight (55:36) OpenAI's Operator announcement and AI autonomy risks 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 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: (9:40) Fitbod. Get 25% off your Fitbod subscription or try out the app for FREE when you sign up: fitbod.me/TWIST (19:30) Squarespace. TWiST listeners: use code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain: https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (30:12) Horatio. Visit https://www.hirehoratio.com/twist and get $2,000 off your initial set up. 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