Cerebras's IPO goes vertical, and the death of OpenClaw? | E2287
This Week in Startups
May 11
Cerebras's IPO goes vertical, and the death of OpenClaw? | E2287
Cerebras's IPO goes vertical, and the death of OpenClaw? | E2287

This Week in Startups
May 11
Shownote
Shownote
Today's show:
Cerebras just jacked its IPO range to $150–$160 a share, OpenAI bought a
consulting firm to seed its $4 billion private-equity joint venture, and a
startup in Oakland is electrolyzing magnesium out of seawater for one-third the
going price. Alex Wilhelm and Jason Calacanis go deep with AI21 co-CEO Ori
Goshen on why model orchestration, not bigger LLMs, will decide who wins
enterprise AI.
The crew also covered the decline of OpenClaw, TikTok's new £3.99 ad-free tier,
more entries in the live-show sidebar bounty, and had time for a little Off Duty
before signing off.
Guest Links:
Ori Goshen on LinkedIn [https://il.linkedin.com/in/ori-goshen]
AI21 [https://www.ai21.com/]
Alex Grant on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/biglithium/]
Magrathea Metals [https://www.magratheametals.com/]
Timestamps:
0:00 Ori Goshen, CEO of AI21 joins the show
1:20 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls
— you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and
use code TWIST for 10% off!
5:14 Why enterprises care about token cost optimization
6:01 Jamba as open-weight; Maestro as proprietary orchestration
10:08 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get
$100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist
12:56 AI21 customer roster: FNAC, US tech giants, Israeli companies
19:01 Alex Grant, CEO of Magrathea Metals joins to discuss pulling magnesium
from seawater
20:03 Live video of the Oakland pilot electrolyzer
20:10 Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in
minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building.
Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.
22:01 Magnesium as a "gateway metal" for aluminum, defense, aerospace
23:20 TETRA joint venture & the Evergreen Project in Arkansas
23:38 Series A close, JV economics: $3,000/ton vs. $7,000/ton market
29:10 Sidebar bounty update: Glass Sidebar (Oliver Choy) demo
30:47 Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at
https://netsuite.com/twist
31:47 Sidebar bounty update: Sidecast (Patrick Hughes) demo
36:09 Reducing scope to "real-time fact checker only" for final round
37:24 Ro.co: Ro's insurance checker will let you know if your coverage includes
GLP-1s for FREE. Go to https://Ro.co/Twist for your free insurance check.
39:07 Cerebras IPO: $115–$125 → $150–$160 per share
44:19 Will OpenAI's compute commitments to Cerebras actually get funded?
49:19 Fervo Energy IPO — venture-backed geothermal company going public
49:40 OpenAI Deployment Company + Tomoro acquisition explained
53:51 Anthropic's parallel $1.5B PE joint venture with Blackstone & Goldman
56:05 Why Jason thinks these PE spinouts are convoluted financial engineering
56:40 OpenClaw's decline + competition from Cowork, Perplexity, Grok
1:04:22 TikTok's £3.99 ad-free subscription launches in the UK
1:09:09 Knicks sweep 76ers — Jason's playoff predictions
1:11:24 Off-duty: "There Is No Antimemetics Division" by qntm
1:13:25 Off-duty: Fall of Civilizations podcast by Paul Cooper
1:16:37 States' rights, federalism, housing supply & closing thoughts
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X: https://x.com/alex [https://x.com/alex]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/]
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason [https://twitter.com/Jason]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis]
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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, [https://youtu.be/pvJa2pzuXWQ] Eoghan
McCabe [https://youtu.be/9dHN4YFkgv4], Steve Huffman
[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-on-mod-revolt-building-a/id315114957?i=1000617333424],
Brian Chesky
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-on-early-rejection-customer/id315114957?i=1000611761112],
Bob Moesta, [https://youtu.be/y2UMzSqX94Q] Aaron Levie
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/box-ceo-aaron-levie-breaks-down-box-ai-and-generative/id315114957?i=1000612384545],
Sophia Amoruso
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sophia-amoruso-on-branding-raising-a-fund-portfolio/id315114957?i=1000601352978],
Reid Hoffman
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reid-hoffman-on-ais-crescendo-moment-regulation-and/id315114957?i=1000612548498],
Frank Slootman
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/snowflake-ceo-frank-slootman-on-moving-the-needle-win/id315114957?i=1000602560622],
Billy McFarland
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/billy-mcfarland-on-fyre-fest-fraud-failure-hacking/id315114957?i=1000610922577]
Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis
[https://substack.com/@calacanis]
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Highlights
Highlights
This episode covers a range of topics from AI infrastructure and enterprise strategy to critical mineral supply chains and tech IPOs. The hosts discuss Cerebras's increased IPO price range, OpenAI's new consulting acquisition, and a startup's innovative method for extracting magnesium from seawater. A key interview with AI21's co-CEO explores why model orchestration, rather than larger models, is the key to winning in enterprise AI.
Chapters
Chapters
Ori Goshen, CEO of AI21 joins the show
00:00Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
01:20Why enterprises care about token cost optimization
05:14Jamba as open-weight; Maestro as proprietary orchestration
06:01LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at https://LinkedIn.com/twist
10:08AI21 customer roster: FNAC, US tech giants, Israeli companies
12:56Alex Grant, CEO of Magrathea Metals joins to discuss pulling magnesium from seawater
19:01Live video of the Oakland pilot electrolyzer
20:03Deel - Founders scale faster on Deel. Set up payroll for any country in minutes, hire anyone anywhere, get visas handled fast, and get back to building. Visit https://deel.com/twist to learn more.
20:10Magnesium as a "gateway metal" for aluminum, defense, aerospace
22:01TETRA joint venture & the Evergreen Project in Arkansas
23:20Series A close, JV economics: $3,000/ton vs. $7,000/ton market
23:38Sidebar bounty update: Glass Sidebar (Oliver Choy) demo
29:10Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://netsuite.com/twist
30:47Sidebar bounty update: Sidecast (Patrick Hughes) demo
31:47Reducing scope to "real-time fact checker only" for final round
36:09Ro.co: Ro's insurance checker will let you know if your coverage includes GLP-1s for FREE. Go to https://Ro.co/Twist for your free insurance check.
37:24Cerebras IPO: $115–$125 → $150–$160 per share
39:07Will OpenAI's compute commitments to Cerebras actually get funded?
44:19Fervo Energy IPO — venture-backed geothermal company going public
49:19OpenAI Deployment Company + Tomoro acquisition explained
49:40Anthropic's parallel $1.5B PE joint venture with Blackstone & Goldman
53:51Why Jason thinks these PE spinouts are convoluted financial engineering
56:05OpenClaw's decline + competition from Cowork, Perplexity, Grok
56:40TikTok's £3.99 ad-free subscription launches in the UK
1:04:22Knicks sweep 76ers — Jason's playoff predictions
1:09:09Off-duty: "There Is No Antimemetics Division" by qntm
1:11:24Off-duty: Fall of Civilizations podcast by Paul Cooper
1:13:25States' rights, federalism, housing supply & closing thoughts
1:16:37Transcript
Transcript
Jason Calacanis: This is one of the highest stakes games I've ever seen.
Alex Wilhelm: A 750 megawatt Deel with OpenAI in January. It's not just insanity, it's insanity with a TWIST.
Jason Calacanis: The question here is, what is that Deel with OpenAI wo...
