This Week in Startups - Video

In this episode, Jason sits down with Angela Benton, CEO & Founder of the NewME Accelerator, for a candid talk on race, diversity, and startups. They discuss how to expand opportunities in technology for young people of color, the current barriers to gaining entry and getting equal resources, the impact of Black Twitter on social media and in communities, how African-American women are the fastest rising group of entrepreneurs in the U.S., Silicon Valley's overemphasis on technical founders, "The Business of Jay-Z," and more. We also meet three founders and NewME graduates to hear about their companies: Tamar Lucien of CanUStart, Rudiger Ellis of Joicaster, and Brian Brackeen of Kairos. Join us!

In this special TWIST, Jason hosts author, angel investor, and entrepreneur extraordinaire Tim Ferriss for a fireside chat in front of a live audience at Pivotal Labs! In this epic, in-depth conversation Tim reveals select secrets to his successes, including: Who he was before becoming THE Tim Ferriss; What crazy experiments on his own body has shocked even ER doctors; Where he and Jason enjoyed their bromance last summer; When he will close what he believes is the largest syndicate round the angel list has ever seen; Why "The Princess Bride" is his favorite screenplay -- and why he's writing his own; and How being both careful and impulsive serves his investment decisions so well. You can't miss this!!

Finally! An innovation we've been eagerly anticipating launches TODAY. Bluesmart, the world's first smart, connected carry-on, is now on Indiegogo and poised to crush the market, absolutely. Jason hosts Cofounder Brian Chen in the studio to dig into product's nuts and bolts, the finer and courser points of crowdfunding, and how Bluesmart's responsibilities are divided among its 5 Cofounders. ALSO! Stay tuned for a special Startup Basics, where Jason, investor-turned-coach Jerry Colonna, and VC Mark Suster address the burning question: DO you need a cofounder??

It's the Double Ryan Roundtable! Ryan Sarver of Redpoint Ventures & Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt join Jason this week to chew on the latest. The three talk Apple, unpack HBO's unbundling, confess the on-demand services to which they're addicted absolutely, reveal insights on what makes a good investor, and dish some extra spice involving Tinder, medical marijuana, thin-crust pizza -- and what horrible fate will befall anyone taking a picture with an iPad near Jason at a Knicks game. Also BING Launch of the Week! Will the winner be SmartMat: the world'd first intelligent yoga mat, FeverSmart: the smart patch fever thermometer for kids, or PlexiDrone: making aerial photography a breeze!?

In the second show of our Revolutionary App series, Jason hosts Mark Kawano, seasoned Apple product designer turned CEO/Co-Founder of Storehouse, a beautiful photo- and video-blogging platform and 2014 Apple Design Award Winner. In between sharing stories of Apple and Steve Jobs, Mark and Jason examine how and why we tell stories, dissect past and present publishing, debate the future of iPad, and skewer deceptive advertising practices.

This week Jason sits down with Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and Managing Partner of The Social+Capital Partnership, at Hack the North, Canada's Largest International Hackathon at University of Waterloo. Chamath shoots straight from the heart & hip on a number of topics, including the mercenary culture in Silicon Valley, why the best companies don't come out of incubators, the great opportunities in health care, education, and finance, and why passion is king (hint: you'll fail if you do anything only for the money). Join us!

In a special bonus TWIST, Jason hosts students from Singularity University for a lively Q&A! The young entrepreneurs ask burning questions, and Jason shares his thoughts on angel investing, radical employment, international timidity, Occupy Wall Street, 3D-printed chocolate Nutella, and what he will do when he is President of the World.

For every minute you don't have oxygen your chances of survival without brain damage decrease by 10%. In the first episode of our Revolutionary Apps series, we feature PulsePoint, a simple and brilliant app saving lives by connecting CPR-trained individuals to emergencies in the vicinity, thereby reducing this critical response time. Jason talks with President Rich Price, retired Fire Chief and career firefighter, who got the idea for PulsePoint after a fatal incident, when he realized that he could have prevented the tragedy had he known the man in need was right across the street from where he was dining. You don’t want to miss this!

It's a rollicking News Roundtable this week with Jason and guests Ben Parr (DominateFund) and Jessica Lessin (TheInformation). The trio tackles the sudden Ello explosion, Apple angst, splitsville for Ebay & Paypal, and an in-depth discourse on an issue Silicon Valley doesn't know how to talk about -- how are the innovations developed here affecting employment for everyone else in the country? Also BING Launch of the Week! What cool new device will win over the judges? GripSnap, a magnetic holder for smartphones to capture the perfect selfie; Jibo, the world's first family robot; or Unpocket, the untrackable & unhackable pocket for the surveillance phobic?

It's another "Welcome back" episode! This week Jason talks with Jessica Mah, who appeared on TWIST in 2010 as the youngest YC female founder in history and brand-new CEO & Founder of inDinero. After weathering a goodly share of slings and arrows, inDinero is now a very successful accounting & tax "one-stop shop" service for businesses. Jason and Jessica discuss inDinero's roller coaster ride, debate the merits of fast- versus moderate-growth businesses, and dissect the nature of commerce here and abroad.

“Welcome back!” It’s the first episode in a series of inviting back TWIST alumnae to update us on their entrepreneurial adventures, from the ridiculous to the sublime. Today we feature success story Danielle Morrill, CEO & Cofounder of Mattermark, an innovative, sophisticated B2B search engine that provides deep data on companies across multiple growth areas. Join us as Danielle shares the trials and tribulations of shutting down her first startup (Refer.ly), her lessons learned along the way, and exactly how she got the idea for Mattermark (hint: a “Gossip Girl” character). And watch as Jason tirelessly negotiates his way into her next funding round!

In 2013, entrepreneur Max Ventilla decided to design a new school that would provide the kind of education he wanted for his own kids: a school that would not follow the usual "one size fits all" model but one that prioritized individualized study, infused with technology, to empower teachers and maximize the potential of each child. In just one year, the demand for such high quality learning has catapulted AltSchool's expansion from one to ten classrooms, and from early childhood to middle-school grades. This week Jason sits down with CEO and Founder Max Ventilla to talk about the state of education, the advantages of becoming a "B Corp" (benefit corporation), and lessons learned from this marriage of mission and startup tech savvy.

In the second show of our safety arc, Jason talks with Doug Simpson, CEO/Founder of Navdy, a "head-up" in-car display that allows you to use your apps while driving without taking your eyes off the road. Greater connectivity, better navigation, zero distractions. Doug is in the studio to show Jason the Navdy prototype, share his experiences at Highway 1 accelerator, and explain how he got the idea for the device (hint: one too many "oh, &%#!" moments while driving).

This episode of Startup Basics will handle one of the most difficult decisions you'll make as an entrepreneur. At some point the going will most definitely get tough -- but when do you persevere and when do you pivot?? Jason shows us some surefire signals and red flags.

Today Jason tackles street safety with two companies taking different, albeit critical and complementary, approaches. First up is Yardarm that tracks the geolocation of officers’ firearms in real time and alerts central command if a weapon has been un-holstered and where it is pointing. Second is ShotSpotter, used in over 80 cities around the world, whose sensors monitor and analyze gunshots. SpotShotter examines thousands of explosive incidents per day, and recently verified the shots from a recording in Ferguson, MO, that occurred when Michael Brown died. Jim Schaff from Yardarm and James Beldock from ShotSpotter walk Jason through demos of their incredible systems and discuss the challenges and opportunities of implementing technology for community safety.