Apply (compute) within

Author

Lon Harris
October 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Top News

  • Applied Compute emerges from stealth: The company was founded by a group of former OpenAI researchers with a mission to build “Specific Intelligence” for enterprises. What does that mean? Essentially, that the GPTs of the world are too generalist for most real-world applications, and the next generation of AI tools will be hyper-specific agents designed for work at individual organizations, pre-trained on their data and workflows. This shift in thinking has intrigued Silicon Valley: early adopters include heavy hitters like Cognition, DoorDash, and Mercor, and the company has raised $80 million in capital so far from big names like Benchmark, Sequoia, and friend of the pod Elad Gil.

  • OpenAI introduces Aardvark: Speaking of autonomous agents (as, let’s face it, we always are), OpenAI unveiled a new GPT-5-powered cybersecurity researcher named Aardvark. The tool started life within OpenAI to assist their own developers; it helps security teams to identify and then patch vulnerabilities. In other OpenAI news (there’s a lot, we have to double up), their Sora video app added the ability to reuse characters across videos, and also to stitch multiple videos together without leaving the app. Will these additions make Sora more sticky and social? Possibly, but they’ll definitely make it easier to use when you have a big, creative idea that’s longer than 10 seconds.

  • Palantir files suit against former staffers: The data analysis company is suing two former engineers, claiming that they stole internal documents and fed the information to an upstart competitor, Percepta. Palantir’s allegations in the suit are far-reaching and serious; they claim that the duo conducted “a months-long charade” before resigning under false pretenses in November 2024 and February 2025. Palantir further claims they didn’t find out what had occurred until Percepta investors General Catalyst introduced the company in a blog post earlier this month. A number of other Percepta staffers are former Palantir employees, which doesn’t prove anything, but it’s circumstantially fishy.

TWiST 500

As a list of the Top 500 most important private companies in the world, we LOVE goodbyes here at the TWiST 500. Often, that means a startup has sprouted wings and is ready to leave the cocoon and fly off into the world as a public company.

Such is the case with business travel management platform Navan, which raised $923.1 million in its IPO this week, selling 30 million shares. Sadly, not all the news was positive. The stock slumped about 12% in its debut, ultimately valuing the company at around $5.5 billion.

That’s well below their October 2022 valuation of $9.2 billion, of course; Bloomberg suggests the stock was multiple times oversubscribed, and it’s hard to take issue with their logic. As well, it’s likely the US government shutdown and a generally frosty economic outlook played a role in muting enthusiasm for a new IPO, even for a unicorn sometimes called the “Amazon of travel.”

That’s not the only big TWiST 500 (or soon to be former TWIST 500, I suppose) news today. AI-powered creative suite Canva debuted its very own foundational model this week, trained on its own elements, which can generate editable layers and objects, not just flat images. That allows users to create much more complicated, imaginative outputs than ever before, which they can then adapt for websites, presentations, social media posts, and beyond.

Canva also unveiled an AI assistant that can help generate media, including 3D objects, from simple text prompts. We love a startup that’s constantly iterating and obsessing about making their product better! That’s like our whole deal! – Lon

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This Week in Startups

E2201: Grammarly CEO Shishir Mehrotra joins us to explain why his company is swapping names, taking on the mantle of Superhuman, the email helper it recently acquired. It just goes to show that, sometimes, a brand upgrade is still called for, even after you have 40 million active daily users. PLUS find out why Jason is off to Tokyo and everyone’s thoughts on 1x’s tele-operated chore-bot, Neo.

E2200: On our milestone 2,200th episode, Jason and Alex chat with Zach Handshow of SpatialGen about the pressure of giving an Apple keynote and the intense amount of compute required to deliver 16K spatial video to VR headsets. PLUS Raiza Martin of Huxe tells Alex about making AI assistants more personality-driven and less robotic. AND our latest Gamma Pitch from ChessEver, a chess app aiming for serious, elite-level players.

E2199: The Australian government has accused Microsoft of employing a DARK PATTERN, and Jason says sneaky tactics like this just aren’t worth it. PLUS we’re digging into Sequoia’s two NEW funds, with an insider look at what they’re designed to accomplish. AND how Tesla is using synthetic data to train FSD, Mercor’s incredible revenue milestone, do Chinese LLMs have an advantage when it comes to picking stocks(?), and MORE!

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Founder U and LAUNCH Accelerator in Japan!

Jason’s coming to Tokyo on Nov 14 to launch a partnership with JETRO — bringing Founder University and Angel University to Japan, and connecting Japanese founders and investors with the global ecosystem. This event kicks off a ten-week program that we're starting in January, all culminating in an Immersion Week and Demo Day in SF. Register here: https://luma.com/cm0x90mk

We’re Hiring a Program Manager!

LAUNCH is seeking a program manager to help organize and manage the Japanese versions of Founder University and Angel University. Candidates must be fluent in both English and Japanese, and should plan on splitting their time between Tokyo and our home base in Austin, Texas. If you’re interested in this exciting opportunity, reach out to [email protected]!

SF Live-Work Space Now Available

Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details.

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