/
© 2026 RiffOn. All rights reserved.

Get your free personalized podcast brief

We scan new podcasts and send you the top 5 insights daily.

  1. This Week in Startups
  2. SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300
SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups · Jun 13, 2026

Breaking down the SpaceX IPO's valuation. Plus, Pulsia's founder shares his 'purple cow' marketing tactic for an AI-led fundraising round.

Controversial Index Fast-Tracking for Stocks Like SpaceX Will Likely Benefit Pensions

Media scrutinizes rule changes that allow new IPOs like SpaceX into major indexes quickly. However, the long-term high performance of these visionary companies will likely vindicate the decision, ultimately benefiting the pension funds and retirement accounts tied to those indexes.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Effective Marketing Stunts Must Demonstrate Core Product Value, Not Just Be Gimmicks

Uber's on-demand ice cream and Airbnb's Flintstones house were successful marketing because they showcased the platform's core function. In contrast, Lyft's pink mustache was a superficial gimmick. Truly 'remarkable' marketing is intrinsically linked to demonstrating the product's unique utility and power.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Public Markets Value Visionary Companies Like SpaceX By 'Voting,' Not Just 'Weighing'

Traditional analysis 'weighs' current performance (revenue, earnings). For disruptive companies, however, investors are often 'voting' on a future vision, a mindset more akin to venture capital. Understanding this duality is key to valuing moonshot stocks and explaining the disconnect between valuation and current financials.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

An IPO Is a Transaction; A Founder's Decades of Resilience Are the Real Milestone

An IPO celebrates a single day, but the true achievement for founders like Elon Musk is overcoming years of near-failure. This reframes success not as a financial event but as a testament to persistent grit through immense hardship, a crucial perspective for entrepreneurs on their own long journeys.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Pulsia's AI-Led Fundraise Transformed a Mundane Process into Viral Marketing

Pulsia's CEO generated massive inbound interest by tasking his own AI with conducting the fundraise. This 'purple cow' stunt was not just a gimmick; it was a powerful, memetic demonstration of the product's core capability, earning attention that paid marketing couldn't buy.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Require a Financial Commitment, Even Refundable, to Filter for Serious Users

Jason Calacanis advises against pure freemium for serious tools. His Founder University saw completion rates jump from 20% to over 90% after implementing a refundable deposit. Requiring 'skin in the game' ensures users are committed, value the product, and provide better feedback.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Uber Turned Surge Pricing Controversy Into a User Acquisition and Education Engine

Instead of shying away from debates over surge pricing, Uber founder Travis Kalanick leaned in. He used media attention to explain the economic logic, which drove engagement and app downloads from curious consumers, turning a negative news cycle into a growth opportunity.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Use an AI Agent to 'Neg' Investors and Create a Powerful Seriousness Filter

By programming his AI to deny meeting requests, Pulsia's CEO created friction that filtered for only the most committed investors. This counterintuitive 'power move' increased the company's perceived value and saved the founder immense time, proving that making it harder to engage can be a strategic advantage.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Use a VPN-Enabled Travel Router to Bypass Streaming Service Geo-Blocks Abroad

Advanced travel routers can create a virtual private network (VPN) back to a user's home network. This provides devices with a consistent home IP address, bypassing geographic restrictions on streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, or SiriusXM, making them fully functional when traveling internationally.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Value Moonshot Companies by Bucketing Timelines from 'Short-Term' to 'Fantastical'

To value a complex company like SpaceX, segment its business lines into short-term (Starlink), mid-term (Starlink to phones), long-term (moon base), and even 'fantastical' possibilities. This framework helps justify high valuations that seem disconnected from present-day financials by treating different initiatives like a venture portfolio.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago

Train a Conversational AI by Prompting for '100 Typical Questions' and Then Fine-Tuning

Pulsia's CEO prepared his AI for investor conversations by first generating a list of 100 common diligence questions from a foundational model. He then used this list to test the AI's responses, provide specific company context, and fine-tune its performance, creating a robust agent for a complex task.

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300 thumbnail

SpaceX IPO Day: What Wall St. and the media missed | E2300

This Week in Startups·2 months ago