This Week in Startups Weekly Recap Dec 27-31

TWIST was 8 episodes shy of 200 in 2021. In total, we had over 200 hours of conversations with top tech founders, CEOs, investors & analysts, news and startup education.

Thank you for listening! This year we added 2 producers (myself included) to the team, as we scaled to 5 shows a week. We're continuing that momentum into 2022, where the show will be a minimum of five days a week.

For our final episode of 2021, we looked back on the year with "The TWISTY Awards." We go through 10 categories, from Most Awkward Moment to Best Guest, then wrap with a discussion with the producers.

Listen to The TWISTY Awards Here

Watch The TWISTY Awards Here

Best,

Producer Justin

P.S. If you want to dig straight into the episodes nominated, I linked the Youtube videos for some key categories below.

Nominees for "Most surprisingly awesome guest"

• Taylor Lorenz from the NYT on E1217, a discussion of tech journalism's antagonistic relationship with tech investors and founders
• Paul Judge of Panoramic VC on Angel S5 E9, on the Atlanta startup scene, the new investing paradigm, Softbank Opportunity fund and more
• Splice Founder & CEO Steve Martocci on E1265, on his first startups (GroupMe & Blade), developing incremental revenue streams for artists, building the "Github for Music"

Nominees for "Best chemistry of the year"

• Redfin Founder & CEO Glenn Kelman E1261?discussing the current state and future of the US housing market
• Investor Joanne Wilson Angel S5 E10, discussing working together in the 90s, changing NYC real estate climate, doubling down on cities, underrepresented founders
• Legendary political strategist for startups Bradley Tusk E1327, on saving Uber from city governments and the taxi lobby, strategies for startups, mobile voting

Bradley Tusk opened my eyes to how to actually make change on specific policy issues impeding a startup or industry. This is a can't miss episode.

Nominees for "Best food talk"

• Goldbelly CEO Joe Ariel E1283, on bringing famous foods to everywhere in the country
• Tock (restaurant SaaS) and Alinea (one of the best restaurants in the world) founder Nick Kokonas E1262

Nominees for "Recurring guest of the year"

• Investor Zach Coelius for Ask an Angel (8 appearances in 2021!)
• Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal from AcquiredFM (5 appearances in 2021)?

I loved David's "Rosenthal Doctrine" remixing Warren Buffet ?? - "Never bet against the internet"

Nominees for "Guest/episode of the year"

• JB Straubel of Redwood Materials E1299, on manufacturing a closed-loop battery recycling system for the United States
• Coaching scams exposed with CoffeeZilla E1178
• Tobi Lütke of Shopify E1184?on tool-building, the early internet, the remote-work evolution & more

A special thanks to our partners for providing great deals to our listeners:

• Eight Sleep - Go to https://eightsleep.com/twist to check out the Pod Pro Cover and get $150 off at checkout!
• Calm - HR and benefit leaders can get a free year of Calm for Business at https://calm.com/twist.
• NordVPN - Go to https://nordvpn.com/twist to get 73% off your 2-year plan plus a free bonus gift