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Today’s show:
At packed concerts, festivals, and stadiums, your phone gets WORSE with every person who shows up. Totem gets better.
Carter Fowler of Totem joins Alex to explain how his screen-free compass points you straight to your friends without relying on cell towers. Find out why Carter says Apple will never ship this in an iPhone, and why kids, ski patrols, and blind users have become some of his most loyal fans.
PLUS, Lon and Alex dig into the archives for Jason's 2017 CES interview with Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, a year before Amazon bought the company. Jamie explains how a doorbell he couldn't hear in his garage became Ring, and why a strong mission is "cheating" when it comes to keeping a team focused. Then he tells Jason he wants to take Ring public, not sell it. Ironic because about a year later, Amazon bought it. And get ready for some hot takes on neighborhood license-plate cameras, years before the anti-Flock backlash.
Guests:
Carter Fowler on X: https://x.com/Carter_S_Fowler
Totem: https://totemlabs.com
Jamie Siminoff on X: https://x.com/JamieSiminoff
Ring: https://ring.com
Relevant Links:
Totem Compass, the offline friend-finding compass → https://totemlabs.com
Totem closes its $1.3M pre-seed round (Business Wire) → https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250212385814/en/Totem-Closes-%241.3M-in-Pre-Seed-Funding-to-Scale-Operations-for-Explosive-Demand
Totem's community crowdfunding round → https://wefunder.com/totemlabs
Totem's record Lost Lands deployment last year (Business Wire) → https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251009622355/en
The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, mentioned by Alex → https://www.amazon.com/dp/1633691780
Original TWiST Interview with Jamie from 2017 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puP_D3k7vVI
Amazon officially closes its Ring acquisition in 2018 (TechCrunch) → https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/12/amazon-officially-owns-ring-so-lets-talk-product-integration/
Ring calls off its Flock Safety partnership after the Super Bowl ad backlash (Engadget) → https://engadget.com/home/ring-calls-off-partnership-with-police-surveillance-provider-flock-safety-031717605.html
Flock Safety plans to cut about 18% of its staff (Reuters via The Star) → https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2026/10/09/exclusive-ai-surveillance-startup-flock-safety-to-cut-several-hundred-jobs-amid-backlash-sources-say
Timestamps:
0:00 Totem, an offline compass for finding friends at festivals
0:31 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations - interviews, meetings, calls - you need a Plaud NotePin S. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
4:27 Why phones fail in big crowds
6:42 How more devices make the mesh network stronger
9:07 Why Totem beats phone GPS in a crowd
11:40 Got a new business idea? Northwest Registered Agent helps you bring it to life. Get a free domain, email, phone number, and more - with no purchase required! - Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain
13:34 Why Apple won't build this into the iPhone
18:10 Raising money for hardware in an AI world
22:10 NetSuite: For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to https://netsuite.ai/twist
23:08 Turning crowd movement into a predictive model
28:04 Rentals, kids and accessibility use cases
32:22 The Conservation Fund: Find out more about how The Conservation Fund is protecting land, wildlife, and our shared access to the great outdoors while also providing economic opportunities. Visit https://conservationfund.org.
35:47 Mesh networks on the front lines in Ukraine
38:01 Flashback to Jason and Ring's Jamie Siminoff at CES 2017
41:44 Roasting Jamie's earlier startups
48:26 How a doorbell in the garage became Ring
53:34 Why you should always bet on your friends
1:02:21 Why a strong mission is cheating
1:07:45 Selling to Amazon versus going public
1:12:09 License plate readers and the Flock backlash
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