Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278

Why Your Company Should Own Its AI Model | E2278

Author: Jason Calacanis April 21, 2026 Duration: 1:16:59

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

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Pilot - https://pilot.com/twist Plaud -

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Today’s show:


*Eragon CEO Josh Sirota believes that you should “own your intelligence.” He demos a live enterprise AI operating system connecting email, Slack, calendar, and financial data into a single agentic layer that’s pre-trained to understand any business inside and out.


PLUS we’ve got IONA Drones founder Etienne Louvet, a first look at Moonshot’s Kimi K2.6, and a brand new Off Duty with JCal and Lon.


FULL SHOW NOTES ON NOTION: https://thisweekinstartups-docket.notion.site/TWiST-2278-SHOW-NOTES-34872ca918e380bd9c71e684ce2db7c9?source=copy_link


Guests :

Eragon: https://eragon.ai

Josh Sirota on X: https://x.com/joshua_sirota

IONA: https://ionadrones.com/

Etienne Louvet on X: https://x.com/etienneldva

Relevant Links

Eragon Seed Round coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/18/this-startup-wants-to-make-enterprise-software-look-more-like-a-prompt/

Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/

Ollama model: https://ollama.com/

Orange Slice: https://www.orangeslice.ai/

Corgi Insurance: https://www.corgi.insure/

Slash Financial: https://www.slash.com/

The Syndicate: https://thesyndicate.com/

FAA Part 108 Explained: https://pilotinstitute.com/part-108-explained/

Zipline: https://www.zipline.com/

Google Wing: https://wing.com/

Joby Aviation: https://www.jobyaviation.com/

Enterprise Ireland: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/

Éire Composites: https://www.eirecomposites.com/

Kimi K2.6 blog post: https://www.kimi.com/blog/kimi-k2-6

Kimi K2 series on GitHub: https://github.com/moonshotai/Kimi-K2

NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 work station: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/gb300-nvl72/



Timestamps:

0:00 Josh from Eragon AI joins the show

2:01 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!

5:07 Why founders should own and control their data sets

8:33 What is a "company world model?"

9:48 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) - Quo gives you a clean, modern way to handle every customer call, text, and thread all in one place. Try it free at https://quo.com/TWiST

11:32 Eragon demo

15:55 Giving agents their own bank accounts

19:07 Inside Eragon's first partnerships

20:14 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist

25:50 How does Eragon make money?

29:11 Pilot - Visit https://www.pilot.com/twist and get $1,200 off your first year.

39:33 Etienne Louvet of Iona Drones joins the show

42:37 What is FAA's Part 108?

47:13 How innovation in drones impacts the aviation industry

50:26 Working with Enterprise Ireland

58:28 Jason attended the Breakthrough Awards

1:04:10 Doug Liman's AI-powered "Bitcoin" movie

1:09:09 "Love Story" on FX and "Dust Bunny" on HBO Max

1:13:10 Jason's love of tinned fish

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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


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Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland

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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

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