Why J-Cal Invested to 200K in a former Employee | E2249

Why J-Cal Invested to 200K in a former Employee | E2249

Author: Jason Calacanis February 13, 2026 Duration: 40:27

This Week In Startups is made possible by:


NetSuite - https://www.netsuite.com/twist


Luma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twist


Squarespace - https://squarespace.com/twist


Today’s show: 


On today’s epsiode of TWiST, Jason gets pitched by two top founders, Presh Dineshkumar and Peter Cetale! 


Presh used to work for Jason at Launch! When he left, Jason invested $200K into Presh’s new startup The Wellness Company. Presh pitches Jason on what he has been building, and Jason gives Presh advice for improving the product!


Peter went through Andreesen Horowitz’s Speedrun accelerator program as CEO and co-founder of Sourcerer. Sourcerer uses AI agents to help US firms and distributors find the best prices for mass produced goods. 


Check out how Jason digs in with these founders!


Timestamps:


(0:00) Presh was originally a TWiST fan who emailed Jason!


(1:59) Why Jason invested in Presh’s startup


(3:19) Checking out the Wellness Company’s hot new app, Tempo


(4:03) How Tempo monitors your health and offers proactive advice with consistency


(9:10) Why Jason recommends adding a group or family feature to make it stickier


(9:51) Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://www.netsuite.com/twist


(11:28) The end goal: bringing app advice and guidance into the real world


(13:34) Presh shares where his apps are finding the most engagement


(14:13) The key importance of Product Velocity and World-Class Design


(17:27) Luma AI - Stop guessing and start directing with Ray3 Modify from Luma AI, the AI-powered post-production tool. Explore it at: https://lumalabs.ai/twist


(18:38) Introducing Peter Cetale and Sourcerer!


(19:32) How Sourcerer uses AI to help distributors and manufacturers automate their sourcing


(22:48) How Sourcerer manages to actually bring costs down


(25:02) Lining up REAL customers, not Letters of Intent (aka Letters of Nothing)


(26:04) Peter’s experiences in a16z’s Speedrun accelerator


(28:08) Working with agents on BOTH the supply and demand side


(29:16) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://squarespace.com/twist


(30:32) How has Tariff Mania impacted Peter’s business?


(35:35) Why Peter thinks startups will keep getting leaner and compute will keep getting cheaper


*


Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/


Check out the TWIST500: https://twist500.com


Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp


*


Follow Lon:


X: https://x.com/lons


*


Follow Alex:


X: https://x.com/alex


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


*


Follow Jason:


X: https://twitter.com/Jason


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


*


Thank you to our partners:


(9:51) Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://www.netsuite.com/twist


(17:27) Luma AI - Stop guessing and start directing with Ray3 Modify from Luma AI, the AI-powered post-production tool. Explore it at: https://lumalabs.ai/twist


(29:16) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://squarespace.com/twist


Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/


Every week, Jason Calacanis dives headfirst into the swirling vortex of Silicon Valley and global tech with This Week in Startups. It’s a direct line to the conversations shaping our digital future, moving far beyond surface-level news. You’ll hear Jason’s unfiltered analysis on everything from market shifts and media trends to the underlying mechanics of building a business, all delivered with a blend of enthusiasm and seasoned skepticism. The core of this podcast, however, lies in the guests. Jason sits down with the very people driving change-founders who have scaled impossible heights, operators managing daily chaos, and investors who spot trends before they become obvious. These conversations are less like formal interviews and more like insider debriefs, pulling back the curtain on real strategies, painful failures, and unexpected successes. For anyone curious about how technology is built, funded, and ultimately changes the world, this series offers a front-row seat. It’s the context behind the headlines, providing a deeper understanding of the forces at play in startups and technology. Tune in for a consistently engaging and insightful look at the ecosystem, straight from someone who lives and breathes it.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

This Week in Startups
Podcast Episodes
SpaceX and Cursor team up to topple Claude Code | E2279 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:29
This Week In Startups is made possible by:LinkedIn Jobs - linkedIn.com/twistGrasshopper Bank - grasshopper.bank/twistNotion - notion.comToday’s show:This week, SpaceX announced that it was partnering with AI coding start…
Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:59
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Quo - https://quo.com/TWiST Vanta - https://vanta.com/twist Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:*Eragon CEO Josh Sirota believes that you s…
Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:38
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Sentry - https://sentry.io/twist Deel - https://deel.com/twist Netsuite - https://netsuite.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistToday’s show:*TAO just had its worst week since…
Bittensor Drama! TAO down 15%! | E2274 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:54
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Pilot - https://pilot.com/TWISTSquarespace -https://squarespace.com/TWISTNorthwest Registered Agent - https://northwestregisteredagent.com/TWISTPlaud - https://Plaud.ai/twistCrow…
Anthropic’s Mythos is a cyber-weapon, so you can’t have it | E2273 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:48
Anthropic just built a model so dangerous, they’re not even going to release it (for now). On TWiST, Jason, Alex, and Neurometric CEO Rob May discuss whether or not this is just another frontier model or a potential weap…
3 AI Agents That Actually Replaced Human Jobs | E2272 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:09
Anthropic just pulled the plug on Claude subscriptions for OpenClaw and every third party agentic tool. So Jason and Lon welcome back three of our top TWiST OpenClaw experts to break down what it means, how much it’s goi…