Podcasts · This Week in Startups

The 5 Companies Apple Must Buy

· 50 min

Episode The 5 Companies Apple Must Buy

0:00 50:20

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Today’s show:

Wall Street suspects new Apple CEO John Ternus may do something predecessor Tim Cook almost never did: writing a huge check.

So Jason and Lon are playing “fantasy draft” with Apple’s balance sheet, choosing five real companies to acquire over five “rounds.” Disney buys them a ton of IP and unlocks theme park synergies. Sony gets them a gaming console and massive anime distribution. Boston Dynamics buys them lots of robots, while Etched nets them cheaper inference. So many options!

Then, we chat with Stacy Salvi of The90. Her wearable pendant tells you exactly how much sun damage you’re accumulating, long before you start to burn.

Guest

The90: https://the90.com/

Stacy Salvi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacysalvi/

Relevant Links

John Ternus becomes Apple CEO: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/04/tim-cook-to-become-apple-executive-chairman-john-ternus-to-become-apple-ceo/

Analyst: Ternus could bring bigger acquisitions: https://9to5mac.com/?p=1065466

“Grok Has Money” meme origin: https://x.com/gmfarcaster/status/2026318035103965414

Sunlight linked with lower COVID-19 deaths: https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2021/sunlight-linked-with-lower-covid-19-deaths

Reid Hoffman: “If there aren’t any typos in this essay, we launched too late”: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/arent-any-typos-essay-we-launched-too-late-reid-hoffman/

Draft Picks

ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/

Disney: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/

Sony Group: https://www.sony.com/en/

Crunchyroll: https://www.crunchyroll.com/

Boston Dynamics: https://bostondynamics.com/

Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/

DigitalOcean: https://www.digitalocean.com/

Etched: https://www.etched.com/

Rivian: https://rivian.com/

Lucid Motors: https://lucidmotors.com/

Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/

World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai/

PrismML: https://prismml.com/

Liquid AI: https://www.liquid.ai/

Kagi: https://kagi.com/

Sonos: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop

Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/

Oura: https://ouraring.com/

Peloton: https://www.onepeloton.com/

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Will Ternus take "massively big swings"?

00:03:43 Round 1: ElevenLabs

00:04:46 Round 1: Disney

00:06:18 Round 2: Sony

00:08:22 Round 2: Boston Dynamics

00:09:23 Round 3: Perplexity

00:10:02 AD: PayPal is built for all business. Get started at https://paypal.com/business

00:11:52 Round 3: DigitalOcean

00:13:02 More picks: Etched

00:14:30 More picks: Lucid

00:15:58 More picks: Superhuman

00:16:48 More picks: Higgsfield and more

00:18:09 Fans make their selections

00:19:47 AD: Got a new business idea? @northwestagent 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

00:25:37 Stacy Salvi of The90 joins

00:29:28 AD: Thanks to our partner, Odoo, the all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at https://Odoo.com/twist

00:34:38 How the app calculates your Sunscore

00:42:12 Building a UV research dataset

00:45:09 Should The90 make a version for men?

Names & Links

Stacy Salvi - https://www.instagram.com/stacysalvi/

The90 - https://the90.com/

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