From Blood Transfusions to Burritos, How Zipline is Automating Delivery | E2238

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/savings

LinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twist

Today’s show: 

On today’s TWIST episode, Alex interviews two of the top startup co-founders: Keller Cliffton of Zipline and Anastasis Germanidis of Runway. 

Zipline announced its $600 million raise at a $7.6 BILLION valuation. Kellers breaks down the origins, economics, and future of Zipline’s contrarian bet in drone delivery. What was science fiction a decade ago is now a regular part of life for many. In fact, Zipline operates more flights than United!

Zipline is set to leapfrog the car delivery apps AND self driving cars with the superior economics of drone delivery. It is much cheaper to transport your burrito in a lightweight drone than a 6,000 pound self driving car!

Then, Alex is joined by Anastasis Germanidis, the CTO and co-founder of Runway, to explain why the next frontier of generative AI is world models! Runway  is looking to build a universal simulation, which will unlock massive gains in robotics, autonomy, and simulations. The world model would be able to simulate rare edge cases that could take years to find naturally! 

Check out how this cutting edge AI startup’s NYU Tisch School of Art’s origins

Then, See Jason’s answer to the question: “When should founders pivot or give up?”

Timestamps: 

(00:00) The Drone revolution is here!

(02:46) Inside Zipline’s factory to build 20K drones a year

(04:40) American dynamism Vs. Chinese manufacturing dominance

(09:00) How Zipline is growing 75% month on month

(9:50) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(11:15) Zipline teleports food and goods to your house

(21:54) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/savings to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.

(23:02) Is it affordable to use a drone to deliver a burrito?

(29:18) Zipline DOUBLES United’s flight numbers

(31:11) LinkedIn Jobs - post your job for free at http://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant.

(32:21) Anastasis break’s down Runway’s AI modeling

(35:24) Runway’s Gen 4.5 and the world model

(40:57) Why do robotics companies need a world model?

(43:04) Using AI to simulate robot laundry folding

(52:37) Runway’s origins at NYU’s art school

(55:46) Founder Q/A: When to pivot or give up on your startup

*

Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/

Check out the TWIST500: https://twist500.com)

Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp

*

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/

*

Thank you to our partners:

(9:50) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

(21:54) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/savings to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.

(31:11) LinkedIn Jobs - post your job for free at http://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant.

Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/