The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) · Thursday, September 10, 2026
Venture capitalist Jason Calacanis voiced strong doubts about the business model and long-term prospects of the company 'Instinct'. He predicts a potential downfall due to uninteresting technology, weak moats, and the impending wave of open-source competitors.
“Yeah, I don't, I don't get the thesis. I don't get it. And I would suggest to anyone who's listening to this, don't be lazy. Don't be lazy. Go and look at this thing and go and find out what it is. You know, it's like if you're going to make a mistake, make sure it's an informed mistake. And I just don't think it's a very informed market at all. And I think it's going to fall off a cliff. I really do.”
“I think it's going to fall off a cliff because the tech is not that interesting. The moat is not that strong. And the thing that really scares me is that there is going to be a massive wave of what I'll call copycat companies. And they're going to be able to do this all with open source models. And if you can offer a better product, cheaper, faster, and you can clone all of the existing products on the market, and you can offer it with much lower customer acquisition cost, you win. And that's what's going to happen here.”