ChatGPT servers still melting

Top News

• ChatGPT image mania: TWiST 500 all-stars OpenAI announced that their new ChatGPT image generation feature has created more than 700 million images on behalf of more than 130 million users since it launched just over one week ago. On social media, OpenAI exec Brad Lightcap said his team “continues to work around the clock” to keep up with the crazy demand for Studio Ghibli-fied images. He also noted that India is now ChatGPT’s fastest-growing market.

• Spotify’s new marketing pitch: The music streaming giant laid out its new approach for advertisers, which centers on Spotify being the home of active, committed scrolling while users of THOSE OTHER APPS (read: TIkTok and Instagram) are more passive and disengaged. In a chat with the New York Times, CBO Alex Nordstrom described Spotify as “more nutritious” than its “high-caloric” rivals. Fair enough?

• Have you heard about these tariffs?: We like to stay focused on startups here, but it’s impossible to ignore the massive impact of President Trump’s newly announced global tariffs on the US tech industry. Of the so-called “Mag7” stocks, Apple saw the steepest decline, with an over 8% drop, due largely to its perceived reliance on China for manufacturing iPhones and other devices. Meta and Amazon also dropped around 7% each, Nvidia and Tesla are down 4%, and Alphabet slid around 4% in the chaos.

TWiST500

Runway AI, one of TWiST 500’s “unicorns,” raised more than $308 million in a new round of funding, at a valuation just over $3 billion. That’s double the company’s previous valuation from their Series C, back in June of 2023. This latest round was led by General Atlantic; other investors include heavy AI hitters like SoftBank and Nvidia.

Runway first came to global attention in Spring 2023 with an early text-to-video model capable of producing relatively low-quality, three-second clips based on simple prompts. These videos are already relics by modern standards; Runway’s “dog with a cell phone in a park” has a freakish double ear, a weirdly inconsistent mouth and tongue, and an eerily unsettling human hand.

While producing ANY kind of coherent video from text alone was enough to impress in April 2023, Runway’s tech has come a long way since then. According to the company, their latest Gen-4 model can now produce consistent scenes and even characters, who remain themselves across multiple shots and sequences. This could finally be the first step toward the long-promised AI-generated TV episodes or films, which helps to explain the sudden passionate interest from investors. - Lon

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This Week in Startups

E2106: On today’s TWiST, Jason and Alex go DEEP on the shocking details of the Rippling vs. Deel Affair, a sordid tale of corporate espionage, scandal, betrayal, and confidential project road maps. PLUS they chat with Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu about their latest AI “intern,” which can build entire apps from a single prompt.

E2105: Jason and Alex break down Palantir’s meme stock reality check, riff on the X/XAI merger buzz, and dig into what Circle’s IPO means for the stablecoin space. 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 van life, growth, and building in an unsexy market.

E2104: Jason, Alex, and Lon cover everything from wild political headlines to big moves in AI and venture. They kick things off with the surprising Trump pardon of Trevor Milton, the disgraced Nikola founder, and break down CoreWeave’s rocky IPO debut. Then, Jason and Alex sit down with Mariano Apodaca, founder of Prosperous AI, to talk about AI tools for negotiating construction and aerospace material costs. Along the way, the team explores the power of taking just 10% of the value you create — a pricing philosophy that could unlock your next big win.

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Founder University

Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 10, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Spring 2025!

LAUNCH Accelerator

Applications are open for the 34th cohort of the LAUNCH Accelerator; a 14-week program focused on fundraising and growth. We invest $125K in our accepted companies and help them raise their pre-seed or seed round. Submit your application at LAUNCH Accelerator.

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