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Today’s show:
A personal AI agent that’s still invite-only just hit a $10 billion valuation. Guest host Deedy Das of Menlo Ventures is joined by Kanu Gulati of Khosla Ventures, Chris Farmer of SignalFire, and Sheel Mohnot of Better Tomorrow Ventures to debate whether Instinct can beat Meta’s Muse, what they actually use their own agents for, and what breaks when everyone’s agent makes the same move.
Plus we’re also talking about OpenAI’s math breakthroughs, the Factory vs. Cognition fight, and whether SaaS is still worth funding. Catch the whole debate on this week’s VC roundtable.
Guests:
Deedy Das on X: https://x.com/deedydas
Menlo Ventures: https://menlovc.com
Kanu Gulati on X: https://x.com/KanuGulati
Khosla Ventures: https://www.khoslaventures.com
Chris Farmer on X: https://x.com/chriswfarmer
SignalFire: https://www.signalfire.com
Sheel Mohnot on X: https://x.com/pitdesi
Better Tomorrow Ventures: https://www.btv.vc
Relevant Links:
OpenAI’s 722 math manuscripts from an unreleased internal model → https://github.com/openai/math
OpenAI’s earlier Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize result → https://openai.com/index/navier-stokes-solution/
Pramaana Labs, the Khosla-backed startup turning tax rules into provable logic → https://pramaanalabs.ai
Logos Research, the Imperial College spinout verifying AI-written financial code → https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/articles/2026/logos-research-plans-to-make-ai-reasoning-trustworthy-in-high-stakes-environments/
EvenUp, SignalFire’s AI company for personal injury law → https://www.evenuplaw.com/
WindBorne Systems, the Khosla-backed weather balloon company Kanu mentioned → https://windbornesystems.com
Gokul Rajaram’s X Post: https://x.com/gokulr/status/2107851356019290569?s=20
micro1, the AI training data company Chris and LAUNCH backs → https://www.micro1.ai
Vercel’s data on companies shifting to open-weight models → https://vercel.com/i/open-weight-models
Instinct raises $1B at a $10B valuation (SiliconANGLE) → https://siliconangle.com/2026/09/28/everyday-personal-ai-assistant-startup-instinct-raises-1b-at-10b-valuation/
Meta introduces Muse, its personal AI agent → https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/introducing-muse-personal-ai-agent/
Wajo, maker of the Fo agent Kanu uses → https://wajo.ai
Factory’s CEO accuses his board adviser of spying for Cognition (TechCrunch) → https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/factory-ceo-just-accused-his-vc-board-advisor-of-spying-for-cognition/
xAI rents its Colossus 1 data center to Anthropic (Data Center Dynamics) → https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/musk-spacex-xai-is-actively-seeking-more-ai-compute-customers-following-anthropic-deal/
Bending Spoons agrees to buy Miro, weeks after Airtable → https://investors.bendingspoons.com/newsroom/bending-spoons-agrees-to-acquire-miro
The FCC’s new rule on foreign-made robots → https://www.fcc.gov/covered-list-faqs-robots-inverters
Timestamps:
0:00 VC roundtable with guest host Deedy Das
1:23 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!
2:11 OpenAI's math results and what's left to invest in
5:10 Formalizing taxes and code so AI can prove its work
6:37 Why science breakthroughs still need the real world
9:44 Odoo: The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist
10:54 Can startups compete with the labs on compute?
13:02 Private data and vertical AI as the moat
18:54 Would you invest in AI training data companies?
20:34 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 www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain
26:29 What a great founder looks like in the AI era
29:13 Quo (formerly OpenPhone) 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
34:35 Is Instinct worth $10 billion?
41:31 Can Muse reach a billion daily users?
44:49 Favorite personal agent use cases
49:06 What happens when everyone's agent makes the same call
53:17 Factory vs. Cognition and VCs backing rivals
1:03:49 Is SaaS still worth venture money?
1:09:49 Where the panel gets its information
1:14:45 What a seed fund means in 2026
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