Amazon makes a play for TikTok

Top News

Circle’s going public! The 2025 IPO cycle is picking up speed, with the creator of the USDC stablecoin Circle filing its own IPO documents. Alex’s notes are here, but the gist is that the company is much what we expected. Namely, a profitable holder of huge financial reserves that back its dollar-pegged stablecoin. The amount of revenue that Circle shares with Coinbase is a fraction of its total revenue. But the company is now on track to list, which means a good chunk of invested venture dollars is about to become liquid. And that’s what venture has desperately needed for years now.
Amazon wants TikTok: Here’s a curveball. While a group, including Oracle, is putatively in the lead to snap up the American assets of the Chinese social video giant, Big Ecommerce wants to play, too. Why Amazon is interested is not hard to parse out. It wants to host the massive compute needs that TikTok has, as well as — I presume — meld TikTok’s commerce functions with its own digital storefronts. If Amazon actually has a shot at buying TikTok, it is perhaps a political question, but expect the next few days to prove wild in deal-land.
Patreon digs more deeply into podcasting: We love a podcast here at TWiST, which means we’re always looking at news relating to the beloved media format. Patreon — not a TWiST500 company, but perhaps one that we should consider adding — had landed new media deals that will bring its expanding podcast business to shows that are crafted elsewhere. The company says that podcasts earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year on its platform and are the most popular vertical.

TWiST500

Normally, when we share news regarding the TWiST500, it’s positive. Mega funding rounds like the one that OpenAI just secured, for example. Revenue milestones? Check. IPO filings? You bet.

Today isn’t like that. If you watched the live taping of the show today, you got the runout from Jason and I, but the gist is that the Rippling-Deel suit is gone from wild to bonkers. The alleged — admitted? — spy that Deel hired to scoop Rippling's internal information has essentially turned informant. And what they had to share is nuts:

They were only paid $5,000 to $6,000 per month for their work
They exfiltrated a host of sensitive, internal information
They worked directly with Deel’s CEO and CFO
And, Deel wanted to possibly send the person and their family to Dubai in the wake of the crisis.

In the end, the spy decided to come clean. That might help their personal legal case but does little for Deel, a company that is now deep inside what appears to be a muck of its own creation. Don’t cheat, folks!

I asked Jason if the board had any culpability in the matter. Should Deel’s board have been able to notice and internally prosecute the matter? Nope, Jason argues, boards just don’t get that deep into the operational weeds.

In short, it seems that the blame here is going to fall on a few previously very wealthy folks. Hopefully, the company comes out alright. I’m not yanking Deel from the TWiST500, but if we need to, we will. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2105: Jason and Alex break down Palantir’s meme stock reality check, riff on the X/XAI merger buzz, and dig into what Circle’s IPO means for the stablecoin space. They react to Sequoia partner Andrew Reed’s inside take on fund dynamics, laugh at a brutal VC meme, and wrap with “Office Hours” featuring Caylee Harrington, founder of Hookhub — the Airbnb for RV parking — to talk van life, growth, and building in an unsexy market.

E2104: Jason, Alex, and Lon cover everything from wild political headlines to big moves in AI and venture. They kick things off with the surprising Trump pardon of Trevor Milton, the disgraced Nikola founder, and break down CoreWeave’s rocky IPO debut. Then, Jason and Alex sit down with Mariano Apodaca, founder of Prosperous AI, to talk about AI tools for negotiating construction and aerospace material costs. Along the way, the team explores the power of taking just 10% of the value you create — a pricing philosophy that could unlock your next big win..

E2103: On an all-new founder-focused TWiST, Lon, Jason, and Alex explore the 11x controversy: did the startup go TOO FAR in promoting its past clients, or was this just a simple oversight? PLUS the gang considers China’s massive growth in both AI and EVs and chat about VC Gili Raanan’s insightful “four persona” theory on startup growth.

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Founder University

Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 10, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Spring 2025!

LAUNCH Accelerator

Applications are open for the 34th cohort of the LAUNCH Accelerator; a 14-week program focused on fundraising and growth. We invest $125K in our accepted companies and help them raise their pre-seed or seed round. Submit your application at LAUNCH Accelerator.

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