BackStartups

News · Global & US

This Week in Startups

with Jason Calacanis

One of the longest-running startup shows anywhere — news, founder interviews and a working angel investor talking through deals in something close to real time.

Format Several episodes a week, around an hourListen thisweekinstartups.com ↗

Why an angel should listen

The host is an active angel investor with a long track record, and the show is at its most useful when he is thinking out loud about a deal — what he would ask, what the valuation should be, why he would pass. That is the actual craft of angel investing performed in public, which is rare.

The volume is both the strength and the problem. Several episodes a week means the show reaches everything, and it also means the signal is uneven. Angels tend to use it as a scanning tool rather than listening end to end.

The founder interviews are the other reason to listen. Because the host invests, the questions are the ones an investor would ask rather than the ones a journalist would, and founders are pushed on numbers more than they usually are in podcast interviews.

Where to begin

Start with these

  • Any episode where a founder is pitching or being pushed on their metrics.
  • The segments where the host talks through his own investment decisions — that is the closest thing to watching diligence happen.
  • News episodes when a market moves sharply, for a working investor's immediate reaction.

In short

Good for

Watching a real angel workDeal flow chatterCurrent news
Listen at thisweekinstartups.com

This Week in Startups: common questions

There are several episodes a week — how do I keep up?
You do not, and should not try. Treat it as a scanning tool: listen when the host is working through a specific deal or pushing a founder on their numbers, and skip the rest without guilt.
Is the host's investing advice reliable?
He is an active angel with a long record and a strong incentive to promote his own programmes, both of which are usually visible. The valuable part is watching the reasoning happen live rather than taking any particular conclusion.