This Week in Startups

Was the Blue Wave a youth revolt? D.A. Wallach suggests the war between left and right gets all the attention, but the 2026 midterms were about young vs. old.

Retirees are the ones looking out for their Uber, Tesla, and SpaceX stock by supporting data centers. But it’s their kids and grandkids who are worried about losing their Uber gig and struggling to make rent. And Social Security’s trust fund runs dry in 2032.

Here’s our expert VC panel on why young voters turned out, no matter who they backed last time, and what the vibe shift means for tech and venture.

@dawallach, @ItsElanaGold, @ttunguz, @jason, $META

0:00 The Blue Wave: Dems take Congress
0:10 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations - interviews, meetings, calls - you need a Plaud NotePin S. You can check it out at plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
6:42 What a split gov’t means for defense tech
9:21 Is 2027 the last big window for tech M&A?
11:04 Every.io: For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit every.io.
13:44 Are anti-robotaxi laws coming?
18:51 The need for positive AI stories
24:12 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at vanta.com/twist
25:59 How AI can make voters smarter
31:22 Self-driving and the future of car insurance
40:17 G2i has been recruiting software engineers for over a decade. Go to g2i.co/twist to find out how G2i vets engineers, and can help you hire them in days, not weeks.
45:00 Jason’s $12K Mac Studio
50:12 Sequoia retires its Scouts and Arc programs
58:21 Jason’s barbell: Zipline, Atoms, and Vast
1:01:19 When VC firms go public
1:08:42 Scrap the accredited investor rule
1:14:26 Hyperliquid and permissionless synthetic markets
1:17:17 Kalshi perps and Anthropic price discovery

🎥 Watch the full episode here 👇

Lon recorded a voice note in his car, and his Plaud Agent turned it into a newsletter post… mostly on its own. Claude handled a rough draft, Gmail sent notes around to the team, and Grok Bot even managed to dig up a contextually-appropriate clip from an old podcast.

Jason is also reminded about some essential Plaud feature requests, including keyword triggers, so he can automatically send team members important insights recorded on the ski slopes.

Find out why Jason wants someone to make a clip of this and forward it to the Plaud CEO.

@Jason, @Lons, @PLAUDAI

Back in August, before Democrats stormed into office with a strong anti-data center mandate, Jason predicted how the midterms aftermath might go.

Once candidates finished campaigning and entered office, they will shift rhetoric on data centers, from total abolition to making deals in exchange for major concessions.

If AI companies guarantee clean water, promise not to draw power from local grids, pay their taxes, create jobs, and give back, @Jason predicts that towns will start competing for data centers rather than rejecting them outright.

Jason took a lot of heat for opposing the Trump tariffs in some corners, but history has vindicated his position. On TWiST, he explains how he tries to stay informed about reality on the ground, to help him make correct calls in the moment.

His advice: skip the pundits and talk to the real people living through these scenarios every day. He recalls chatting with @cutsclothing founder @stevenborrelli, a business owner facing challenges following from Trump’s trade policies. The conversation helped him adjust and fine tune his own understanding of the situation.

@jason, @lons

Apple cut some engineers’ daily AI budgets down to $200, with apparent $100 limits on the way.

@Jason says most companies are heading in the opposite direction. Because the potential value from AI upgrades is so high, the minimum price for a corporate AI seat will inevitably rise. But all those tokens are potentially still cheap next to SaaS tools that run $500-$1,000 per seat or higher.

If a vendor raises prices, first check everyone’s use and remove anyone from the plan who’s not getting a lot out of it. Then re-assess the ROI.

@lons, $AAPL