Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon break down today’s top tech and startup stories — from Slate Auto’s customizable $25K EV truck to Discord’s major leadership shakeup ahead of a potential IPO. They also cover Uber’s self-driving push with Volkswagen, Perplexity AI’s aggressive growth moves, and why value-driven products are winning in a tough economy. Plus, Alex sits down with Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun to unpack how they grew from 5K to 10K customers — and why fixing internet networking could spark the next huge wave of innovation.

Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason, Lon and Alex kick off the show!

(3:26) Introduction and features of Bezos-backed EV truck company, Slate

(7:55) Market impact and value proposition of Slate's EV trucks

(9:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups

(14:04) EV features and market potential discussion

(17:42) Discord CEO steps down and IPO prospects

(20:19) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist

(24:00) Uber and Volkswagen's self-driving car partnership

(28:39) Superpower - The best founders know: better health = better business. Visit http://superpower.com/twist to skip the waitlist.

(30:00) Pace of self-driving car adoption and regulation

(37:20) Butterfly Effect secures Benchmark investment

(38:37) Perplexity and Motorola Razr partnership

(43:12) Jason's experience with Light Phone

(45:39) New York Times and Ziff Davis lawsuits against OpenAI

(50:09) Nonprofit structures and OpenAI's mission issues

(54:01) Founder Friday: Pitchfire and TACTUN's two-year plans

(1:02:28) Introduction to Tailscale and Avery Pennarun

(1:10:17) Tailscale's enterprise adoption

(1:21:13) Current Internet networking issues*

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 episode:

Check out Tailscale: https://tailscale.com/

Check out Slate vehicles: https://www.slate.auto/en

Check out Not For Private Gain:https://notforprivategain.org/

Check out the Light Phone: https://www.thelightphone.com/

Check out Oregon lawmakers article: ****https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/04/oregon-lawmakers-to-decide-whether-big-tech-should-pay-to-support-local-journalism.html

Check out Manus: https://manus.im/

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

Thank you to our partners:

(9:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups(20:19) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist(28:39) Superpower - The best founders know: better health = better business. Visit http://superpower.com/twist to skip the waitlist.

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

Discord’s Power Move, Slate’s Modular EVs & the “Act for Private Gain” | E2117

This Week in Startups