Avi Patel on the startup that copied Kled and why he called out General Catalyst by name | E2291
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Why does Avi Patel claim a startup copied Kled’s product and call out General Catalyst?
Another company cut and pastes everything you do and steals your idea, allegedly. After stealing your idea, you go public with it.
I woke up to that post and noticed a very, very uh blaring resemblance to our website. Like
they photocopied your website.
To a level that was absurd. I was talking to general catalysts, they were gonna invest that money into us. The first five minutes of the post I was messaged by like maybe three of them saying, Avi, you need to take this down right now. I calling out AC by name. By calling out a PC by
name, you you really stepped on the blanket. This week in Startups is brought to you by Grasshopper Bank. Time is money, don't waste either. Go to Grasshopper.bankslash twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account. LinkedIn. Hire right the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at LinkedIn.com/slash twist. And Northwest. Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In ten clicks and ten minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity. Learn more at Northwest Registered Agent dot com slash twist.
All right, everybody, welcome back to Twist for May 20th. May 20th, 520. It's not 420, it's 520. Summer is upon us. Graduations have occurred and it's gonna be A wild summer, the pace at which things have been happening in AI In uh global politics, it is just fast and furious. And we help you process it here three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday on twist. Today we're very lucky because one of the great startup stories of the past 20 years, or maybe it's fifteen, Mercury Bank is gonna be on uh talking about their latest fundraising. And then we're gonna tell the story of what happens when you create a startup. And allegedly Another company from My Combinator cut and pastes everything you do and steals your idea, allegedly.
And After stealing your idea, you go public with it. And that strategy. This is our two guests today. Yeah, Alex?
Absolutely. It's gonna be an absolute corker of a show. Uh but Jason, before we get into talking about Mercury and their latest round, I think we should pause and discuss our favorite wearable gadget.
Oh, well, I have a plot here on my wrist. Sometimes I wear it uh on the lapel of my jacket. You've got it on your wrist too. You press the button, you hit the haptic, red light goes on. Now I'm recording. Anything I do, I can be like, oh. We're hiring six associates in training to start out our venture firm. This is a true story. Um, and I know I have to catch up with. Jackie, who's doing the hiring process, and we have to talk about how we're going to assign all that. So I can just say, hey, uh, make sure we put on my calendar that I got to meet with Jackie, go over the six new hires for the associated in training program and how we're gonna allocate them across our, you know, eight different business units.
Uh and let's put that on my calendar. And let's make some training manuals for it. Now you know, I gave it some basic instructions, all those notes. When I sink Which I can do either through my phone or by just putting it into this little charge pad. It's synced. And it makes multiple versions of that conversation. A mind map, if it was a long one, like a rambling podcast episode, it'll make you notes, it'll make you um bullet points, action items, and of course, just a perfect transcript. So you get all that out of the box, super easy, one click.
Yes. So you need a plod note pen S. If you want to get one, P L A U D dot AI slash twist. Use the code twist, save 10%.
What are the sponsor messages and how do they transition back to the main show?
And while you were talking, Jason, I had an idea. I was thinking to myself, I'm going deeper on codex from OpenAI. I've picked that as my current tool to play with and just really figure out to the studs. And I was just thinking, why can't I bring my plod into codex? I don't want to actually do the importing myself work myself. And it turns out they have an MCP. server. So you can just do that. So interesting.
Yeah. Um, I've been thinking about that. At some point I'm gonna connect like
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does Avi Patel claim a startup copied Kled’s product and call out General Catalyst?
0:00–3:40
2
What are the sponsor messages and how do they transition back to the main show?
3:40–4:34
3
How does the conversation shift to Mercury’s fundraising and business model?
4:34–12:46
4
What does Avi Patel reveal about Kled, the alleged copycat, and the response from investors?
12:46–48:42
5
Why does Avi claim the new startup copied Kled’s product and website?
48:42–57:33
6
What evidence does Avi present about the copycat’s fraudulent user numbers and compliance claims?
57:33–1:04:39
7
Why does Avi call out General Catalyst and how does he rate the VC’s response?
1:04:39–1:19:17
8
What are the latest news items discussed after the verdict – OpenAI token credits and the NYC hotel‑housekeeper wage deal?
1:19:17–1:34:22
Speakers
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