THE 2025 TWISTY AWARDS! Biggest Trends, Best Guests, Top Name Drops, and more | E2229

Quick Overview

The 2025 Twisty Awards, celebrating the best moments from the year, recognized the F1 event name-drops, particularly those involving Sergey Brin, Tony Robbins, and Timothee Chalamet, as the Best Name Drop of the year, while AI job displacement and the arrival of humanoid robots were highlighted as major trends alongside the return of M&A activity.

Key Points: The Best Name Drop of 2025 was awarded to the clip detailing the F1 event, which included mentions of Sergey Brin, Tony Robbins, and multiple mentions of Timothee Chalamet, with one judge calling it a "deluxe name drop." The second nominee for Best Name Drop involved courtside Knicks seats, where Jason claimed friendship with Ben Stiller and Timothee Chalamet, alongside his brother Josh. The biggest trends of 2025 included the return of M&A activity following the "wrath of Lena Kahn," which one host felt landed most acutely in 2025. AI job displacement was identified as a critical trend, with discussion focusing on job destruction in knowledge-heavy industries and the possibility that employers avoid training young people because automation is easier. The arrival of humanoid robots was declared a top trend, with Jason boldly predicting Optimus will become the greatest product ever created by humanity, surpassing even the wheel. The Best Jason Anecdote involved Jason confronting a person who doxxed him based on a tree line photo from his backyard, culminating in the doxxer revealing he had a four-week-old child. The anecdote concluded with Jason telling the doxxer to apologize to his wife, Cece, resulting in an apology letter from the couple, which was deemed "the most interesting and useless piece of information that has ever been given out on this show."

Context: This episode, titled "The Twisty Awards 2025," functions as a year-end review for the podcast "This Week in Startups," hosted by Jason along with Lon Harris and Alex Willem. The hosts review and award the best moments, trends, name drops, and anecdotes that occurred throughout the year 2025, often involving discussions about technology, celebrities, and business figures, while also featuring several sponsor plugs for HubSpot, Squarespace, and LinkedIn Ads.