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Today’s show:

Jason and Kelly Schricker introduce the Founder University pitch competition (1:11), then we hear from Abe at GolfGolf (7:16), Mircea from Cicada (15:25), Spencer of dotflo (27:16), and Shreyas from Clinic Assist (34:54). Finally, Jason awards a $25K investment (34:54), and much more!

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Jason kicks off the show

(1:11) Jason and Kelly Schricker introduce the Founder University pitch competition

(7:16) Abe pitches GolfGolf

(13:31) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist

(15:25) Mircea pitches Cicada

(22:14) .Tech Domains - Apply to get your startup featured on This Week in Startups at http://www.startups.tech/jason

(27:16) Spencer pitches dotflo

(32:41) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://openphone.com/twist

(34:54) Shreyas pitches Clinic Assist

(43:52) Jason awards a $25K investment

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Check out the pitch competitors here:

GolfGolf - golfgolf.tech

Cicada - cicadamusic.net

Dotflo - dotflo.co

Clinic Assist - clinicassist.ai

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Thanks to our partners:

(13:31) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at http://www.vanta.com/twist

(22:14) .Tech Domains - Apply to get your startup featured on This Week in Startups at http://www.startups.tech/jason

(32:41) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://openphone.com/twist

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Follow Jason:

X: https://twitter.com/jason

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis

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Follow TWiST:

Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin

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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Jason on CNBC: https://youtu.be/V6oqvDnuAgI

0:01 Jason intros today's questions
1:51 Aaron: Thoughts on Black Lives Matter?
9:06 Joe: How can startups play a role in bringing manufacturing back to the US?
14:46 Alex: Any tips on pre-selling a SaaS product?
17:38 Arthur: How should I prepare to be a great Syndicate member in the future? In a perfect world, what does the Syndicate become?
21:13 Matthew: You often talk about founders needing to be in SV in order to be close to the action. Post-COVID, how does this change? Do places like Sydney, Vancouver, or Beijing become "big-game" cities?
28:37 Charlie: Love when you mention on your blog post a pressing need with “Someone should build this!” What’s your latest “someone should build this?” right now?
30:04 Sergey: In "Angel", you suggest to invest about $5000 per deal to minimize the risk in the beginning. Will founders care to spend an hour to pitch such a small investor?
31:26 Ruud: How common are founder/VC disputes? Is there a ranking of VCs by how founder-friendly they are? Curious if this has gotten better or worse over time?
34:48 Alex: Is it advisable to look up competitors' investors and avoid them to prevent someone at the firm from sharing critical info with your competitor? Has that happened before, or is that too paranoid?
36:35 Kirk: What is your succession plan with Launch/TWiST and why? Also, what other syndicates do you admire and why?