AI Summary
5 min read🎙️ The Speakers & Context
- The Format: Host-led interview with two guests and live demos.
- The Key Players:
- Logan Allen: Founder/Managing Partner at Finn Capital; early Circle investor (pre-IPO/secondary); credible via prescient bets on stablecoins post-FTX and passing on proprietary LMs for open source AI.
- Eric Voorhees: Founder of Venice AI (private, uncensored AI chat); crypto veteran building AI with user sovereignty/privacy focus; early OpenClaw contributor.
- Hosts: Jason Calacanis (angel investor, podcaster) and Lon Harris; contrarian lens on tech adoption signals (e.g., criminals/handymen using tech).
- The Vibe: Optimistic, technical; bullish on open source AI/crypto convergence amid chaotic hype.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introductions: Logan Allen (Finn Capital founder/MD, Circle investor) & Eric Voorhees (Venice AI founder)**
- 2 (03:56) **Circle Stablecoin Investment Success**
- 3 (07:31) **Venice AI Vision & OpenClaw Integration**
- 4 (11:39) **Open Source AI Momentum & Investment Thesis**
- 5 (14:13) **Privacy Risks in Centralized AI**
- 6 (17:22) **Venice AI Token ($VVV) Economics**
- 7 (23:29) **OpenClaw Costs & Enterprise Adoption Challenges**
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
LinkedIn Jobs - https://LinkedIn.com/twist.
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Iru - https://iru.com/twist!
Today’s show:
It’s a packed TWiST Today! WITH US, we’ve got Erik Voorhees of VeniceAI and Logan Allin of Fin Capital on to talk agents, crypto, and… you guessed it, OPENCLAW!
Where does agentic AI meet the financial system? How will agents transact? And what does privacy look like in a world with omnipresent AI?
Stick around for some demos! We’ve got George Pickett to demo OpenClaw studio and David Kaufman to show us what he’s building at Siteline!
Timestamps:
00:04:31 What was Logan’s original thesis in Circle?
10:08 LinkedIn Jobs - Thanks to our partners at @LinkedIn! Post your job for free at https://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs’ new AI assistant.
00:11:52 Logans thoughts on Open vs. Closed Source
00:15:33 How to maintain privacy in AI
20:02 Deel - Founders ship faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.
00:23:29 Why LAUNCH’s token usage is trending higher than payroll!
00:25:05 How Fin capital uses personality types and AI to assess investments
00:29:45 Why Erik thinks Anthropic’s defiance of the federal gov. is bravery!
32:10 Iru - Iru unifies identity, endpoint security, and compliance into one platform. TWiST listeners get 20% off when they book a demo at https://iru.com/twist!
00:42:23 How Siteline is helping understand companies and their agent traffic.
00:57:15 OpenClaw Studio makes OpenClaw as user friendly as possible.
01:10:09 The layers and layers of Microstrategy’s business model.
01:11:44 Which AI tools are the most indispensable?
01:12:25 How Jason uses the Grok button on threads
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