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Top News

• Pebble intros AI smart ring: The Palo Alto startup is most associated with its smartwatch, which started life in 2012 as the most funded Kickstarter project in history (at the time). They’re remaining in the wearable space, but pivoting slightly, with the announcement of an AI-powered stainless steel smart ring called the Index 01 (you know, after the finger). Unlike other AI wearables, the $75 Pebble device is NOT always on and listening to your conversations, does not monitor your biometrics, and has 0 interest in serving as your social companion. Founder Eric Migicovsky explains that the AI features are designed primarily to help the wearer keep track of and record their thoughts throughout the day, with the simple push of a button.

• Reddit preps new safety features for teens: In a blog post on Monday, the forum and aggregator announced new, mandatory safety features that will be applied to all accounts for users under 18, including restrictions on some kinds of ads and “stricter” chat settings. The context: Australia’s government will start banning users under 16 from social media platforms this week, a rather vague category into which they’re looping Reddit. (The site has referred to the new policy as “arbitrary” and “legally erroneous,” but nonetheless suggests that the vast majority of their users are adults anyway.) New Australian Redditors will be asked to provide a birthdate upon sign-up; pre-existing account holders will be subjected to a wave of “age-prediction models” to verify that they are indeed 17 and up.

• AI companies unite on Agentic AI Foundation: The new org — created under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, which oversees the Linux OS — will establish and promote open standards for AI agents. Founders of the “AAIF” include OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block, while participants include Google, Microsoft, AWS, Bloomberg, and Cloudflare. As America’s AI industry prepares for a future in which millions of agents are communicating and interacting constantly (not to mention ferocious competition from open-source Chinese AI rivals), having some shared, agreed-upon standards will become increasingly crucial. To that end, Anthropic donated its Model Context Protocol (MCP) — a universal open standard for connecting AI agents with external systems — to the effort.

TWiST 500

We talk about pivoting your startup all the time on the show, and how founders should not be afraid to admit that they’ve been solving the wrong problem, or got their timing wrong, and seek out fresh, related opportunities. But when many startups consider a shift in strategy, they’re really talking about a small tweak, zeroing in on a particular feature or altering the scope of their mission.

True to their name, TWiST 500 faves and supersonic airliner manufacturers Boom Technology announced a downright explosive pivot today that radically alters the vision around the entire project in an intriguing way. The company plans to begin selling a new version of its proprietary 42-megawatt turbine engine, termed “Superpower,” as a stationary power plant, to keep energy-sucking data centers active and operational. Friends of the pod Crusoe have already signed on as a first customer, and plan to purchase 29 turbines from Boom to the tune of $1.25 billion.

Founder/CEO Blake Scholl unpacked the strategy behind the move in an already widely-shared X thread. He explains that the company always recognized the turbine’s ability to double as an energy source, even back when it was still in development as an engine to power supersonic jets. The plan had been to begin shipping jets first, then segue into the energy industry… until Scholl started reading constant headlines about AI companies lacking the necessary power for all of their newly-acquired compute. After learning that xAI and OpenAI had both experimented in with using converted jet engines for power, the roadmap seemed clear.

The company raised a $300 million round from Darsana Capital Partners and others to “commercialize” the turbines, and will re-route the sales revenue back into their Overture supersonic aircraft project. Sounds like wins all around — Boom’s flight plans get additional runway (har!) and your favorite chatbots remain operational around the clock. – Lon

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This Week in Startups

E2220: Ads are probably coming to ChatGPT, but not JUST yet. Though a screenshot that appeared to show a Target ad in ChatGPT results spread like wildfire around social media, in fact, that was just one of those “brand integrations” allowing you to shop for Target merch within the popular chatbot. On TWiST, Jason and Alex dig deeper into the inevitable arrival of chatbot ads, and wonder aloud if anyone at OpenAI is really thinking deeply about how this will work, and how to confront backlash from a public that prefers their outputs ad-free.

E2219: Netflix wants to BUY Warner Bros… but is this just about wanting that sweet, sweet DC Comics IP? Or is there a secret plot embedded here to destroy the humble movie theater? We’re asking the TOUGH questions. Also… are Googlers gaming Polymarket? Why does Perplexity KEEP getting sued? AND a rundown of some of our fav startups from Y Combinator’s Fall ‘25 cohort.

E2218: Jason spends the full hour with Athena founder and chairman Jonathan Swanson, discussing their shared history from the Thumbtack days, and the decision to leave marketplaces behind and go all-in on virtual assistants. Together, they discuss how delegation can not just massively increase your productivity, but allow you to tackle all sorts of projects and goals that would have been unthinkable otherwise. Plus Jonathan gives us his tips on avoiding the “Cardinal Sins of Delegating.”

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