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Today’s show:
Elizabeth Holmes remains in prison for defrauding Theranos investors, even as she stars in the hit Nathan Fielder/Lance Oppenheim documentary “You Can See Everything.” But we’re asking the real question: After all the very public accusations… the hit pieces in the press and the Hulu drama series picking apart the scandal… would tech investors and VCs be willing to back her NEXT startup, if the numbers were right?
On today’s TWiST roundtable, Jason Calacanis is joined by Sam Lessin (Slow Ventures), Paige Finn Doherty (Behind Genius Ventures), and Jenny Fielding (Everywhere Ventures). In addition to reviews of the movie tech insiders can’t stop talking about, they cover why every seed portfolio needs a little bit of fraud, how diligence scales with check size, having trademark rights to your own voice, and the pro rata rights debate that’s still raging over Valar Atomics’ lawsuit with seed investors Day One Ventures.
Guests
Sam Lessin on X: https://x.com/lessin
Slow Ventures: https://slow.co/
Paige Finn Doherty on X: https://x.com/paigefinnn
Behind Genius Ventures: https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/
Jenny Fielding on X: https://x.com/jefielding
Everywhere Ventures: https://www.everywhere.vc/
Relevant Links
OpenSnow: https://opensnow.com/
“You Can See Everything” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvW_N5p1q44
HBO Max “The Rehearsal” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fjPFt8cpic
Elizabeth Holmes moves to halfway house in 2027 (ABC7): https://abc7.com/story/elizabeth-holmes-scheduled-move-halfway-house-august-2027/19862832/
Billy Evans’ blood-testing startup Haemanthus (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/10/elizabeth-holmes-partner-reportedly-fundraising-for-new-blood-testing-startup/
Polymarket: Oscars 2027 Best Picture: https://polymarket.com/event/oscars-2027-best-picture-winner-20260727173620857
Kalshi: Oscars 2027 Best Documentary: https://kalshi.com/markets/kxoscardocu/event/kxoscardocu-27
Charlie Javice sentenced to 7 years (NBC News): https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/charlie-javice-sentenced-7-years-prison-fraudulent-175m-sale-financial-rcna234536
Trump pardons Nikola founder Trevor Milton (Axios): https://www.axios.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardons-nikola-founder-trevor-milton
Sequoia writes its FTX stake down to zero (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2022/11/10/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-sequoia-writes-down-214-million-investment-to-zero-venture-capital-crypto
Who lost money on Theranos? (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2018/05/04/theranos-investment-lost
“Barbarians at the Gate” on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Barbarians-Gate-Fall-RJR-Nabisco/dp/B08YP9MDHX
a16z backs Adam Neumann’s Flow (Commercial Observer): https://commercialobserver.com/2022/08/adam-neumann-350m-backing-andreessen-horowitz/
Martin Shkreli lifetime pharma ban (FTC): https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/01/statement-chair-lina-m-khan-ruling-judge-denise-l-cote-federal-trade-commission-et-al-v-vyera
Isaia Taylor post announcing Valar suit: https://x.com/isaiah_p_taylor/status/2108679133467414855
Day One Ventures response: https://x.com/mashadrokova/status/2108732979191390528
ElevenLabs Iconic Marketplace: https://elevenlabs.io/iconic-marketplace
Apple Corps vs. Apple Computer, a history (MacTech): https://www.mactech.com/2004/04/09/a-history-of-the-apple-vs-apple-dispute
Cameo for Business: https://www.cameo.com/business
Nox Metals: https://noxmetals.co
Electric Plant Company: https://www.electricplant.co/
Ablieration: https://abliteration.ai/
Timestamps:
0:00 Our new “This Week in VC” newsletter
2:15 Panel intro: Sam Lessin, Paige Doherty, Jenny Fielding
8:09 Why gambling loses appeal for VCs
11:02 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!
16:18 DigitalOcean - Head to https://do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today - and cut your AI workload costs by up to 50%
17:35 Best moments from “You Can See Everything”
21:42 Unreliable narrators and unknowable situations
24:41 Living in a post-truth moment
30:02 Due diligence horror stories
32:45 Odoo: The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://odoo.com/twist
34:50 The VCs remember their fraud investments
38:39 How LAUNCH trains founders to prep for diligence
44:31 How Elizabeth Holmes kept raising money
54:54 Would you invest in an Elizabeth Holmes company?
57:27 Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.
1:02:28 Why seed funds need pro rata rights
1:09:02 When “founder friendly” means rolling over
1:16:25 The three investor relationships: team, founders, LPs
1:21:02 ElevenLabs “Archer” voice controversy
1:27:16 How NIL deals reshaped college sports
1:33:54 Cameo for Business and long-tail celeb endorsements
1:35:51 Portfolio company shoutouts
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