Equity

Latest Episodes:

How do you pronounce IaaS? Oct 13, 2023

Show notes

Mary Ann and Alex were joined by Kirsten once again to parse the week’s news and call out the biggest stories in startups and venture:

California passed a law that will require venture firms to disclose certain market data concerning whom they are investing in. Some investors and venture groups are opposed to the law.
ALIAVIA Ventures has put together a new fund to invest in women building tech companies in Australia and the United States, with a focus on helping Aussie companies reach the American market.
Canopy Servicing raised a $15.2 million Series A1. Alex caught up with the company, hoping to learn what it took to raise a fintech round in 2023. Things have changed since the go-go days of 2021 when every round felt like a fintech round and every fintech round felt like a pre-IPO deal.
And rounding out our deals of the week, Kirsten brought a fascinating $200 million deal between a private equity group and EVPassport. If the world is going to move more toward electric cars, then we’re going to need more plugs in more places.
From there, we worked to draw a connective line between the startup turbulence we’ve seen recently, with Braid shutting down, Shift and IronNet going under, and Blue Apron selling for a fraction of its former value.
And to close, can technology solve a labor shortage in construction? And if so, what role will startups play in that work?

We had a great chat with the CEO of Medium earlier this week, and have a packed agenda for you including another interview that we’re excited about. More soon!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more!

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Medium is opting out of AI Oct 11, 2023

Show notes

This week we had Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Medium.com, a publishing platform that he has helmed for more than a year.

Medium has gone through a number of versions over the years. Pivots, if you will. But what has been a steady focus in Medium's life in recent years has been its subscription business. Medium offers a paid membership tier that costs $5 per month or $50 per year. And, Tony was willing to share, it's growing once again and is heading toward a pretty key milestone.

We also got into:

The business of the written word.
Medium's stance on AI and what its posture says about how the company views the value of writing. (More on the matter from TechCrunch here.)
Why Medium thinks that everyone has something worth saying.

There's a little bit of media insider chat during this podcast, which we hope you enjoy. As always, we're back with our weekly roundup on Friday. Talk then!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Equity Monday: The AI race, crypto doldrums, and the future of fake fish Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

This time around we had a bit of a theme. See if you can spot it:

Stocks are down around the world in the wake of Hamas' attack in Israel. Crypto is similarly in the red.
China is working to bolster its national computing and data infrastructure. You know, the things that make AI function. In other words: the AI race between China and the United States is far from over.
This Anthropic paper is a potentially big deal. The more that we understand LLMs, the better we can use them, right?
Changes at YC!
And from Startup Land: Wanda Fish Technologies just raised $7 million to make fake fish, and Lottie raised $21 million to keep tackling the UK care home market.

That's our show for today! We have some really fun interviews coming up, so make sure to tune in on Wednesday!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The whole venture merry-go-round is decelerating Oct 06, 2023

Show notes

This week, Mary Ann and Alex had the pleasure of having TC reporter extraordinaire Dominic Madori-Davis as a guest on the show.

Here’s what we got into:

A quick update on the SBF trial, which quite frankly, has us all riveted.
An Atlanta-based fintech startup called Rainforest’s $8.25M equity raise and how it is hoping to take market share away from the likes of Stripe.
A bunch of new fund raises this week, including At One’s $375M climate-focused raise; Section 32’s $525M fund close and Greylock’s $1 billion haul.
With so much capital flowing to VCs, it is more than a little mind-boggling that venture funding declined for yet another quarter in the three-month period ending September 30. But it did.
Dom came on to talk about Fearless Fund’s being barred from awarding grants to Black women founders and how how data can help improve social impact investing.

Equity is back next week bright and early on Monday. And we have a lot of really cool interviews coming up. So make sure that you are tuned in and caught up!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBF's trial has started, and here's what you missed (Equity x Chain Reaction crossover) Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

This time, we teamed up with the Chain Reaction podcast and Jacquelyn Melinek to talk about the ongoing trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF.

The rise of FTX and its later implosion rocked the crypto world when the formerly massive crypto exchange went under last year. In the aftermath, the company's executives have been charged with financial crimes. Many have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the government. SBF is not.

Here's TechCrunch's reporting on the trial thus far that we went over on the show:

That last entry goes over the opening statements, which we got into during the show. Jacquie, of course, hosts TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast, which is focused on all things crypto. We're lucky to have her back on the mic.

More to come on the SBF trial. Stick close to TechCrunch!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Equity Monday: Where fintech is strongest as SBF heads to court Oct 02, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Q4 2023, the period in which we are all going to pretend to have gotten enough done this year.

Here’s what we got into on the show today:

Stocks are mixed around the world while crypto tokens are enjoying a nice price-upswing in recent days.
A recent article argues that Apple has all the ingredients it needs to build a search engine to take on Google and Microsoft. At issue? The fact that Apple makes so much money not having a search engine. For startups, more competition here could be good.
EU telcos want to get paid twice, unsurprisingly.
While the Amazon-FTC case is still big news, this week we’ll see the trial of former FTX maven SBF kick off. TechCrunch is ready.
And to close out, why are we seeing so many Seed-stage fintech deals? Here’s the answer.

Stick close to TechCrunch this week, it’s going to be busy.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

YC, OpenAI and the trough of disillusionment Sep 29, 2023

Show notes

Here's what Mary Ann, Alex and Kirsten got into this week:

The writer’s strike is over, and we have thoughts about its implications on AI.
OpenAI is allowing some shareholders to sell stock, and the resulting valuation could be pretty darn high.
Electric boat startup Arc has raised about $70 million? We aren’t about to drop the coin needed to buy one of those, but the idea is neat nevertheless.
Alex wanted to talk about fluctuations in the venture and stock markets. Is the mini-tech recovery already fading after a dismal September?
Mary Ann wanted to talk about YC. Kirsten broadened the conversation to include the role of accelerators in the startup world more generally. Are the vibes shifting?
Finally, the tech labor market: As layoffs subside — though new cuts are still being announced — it may be a great time for startups to hire key talent.

And before we go: check out the UpFlip Podcast where you get to unravel how great businesses are built, how they are run behind the scenes and how their success can be replicated. We think you'll love episode 79 where they featured this guest who transformed his passion for gardening into a $7.3 million-a-year venture. You can find the podcast on Youtube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't forget to jargon check your AI Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

This week on Equity, Alex was joined by Nathan Baschez, the CEO and founder of Lex, an AI-infused online writing tool that recently raised capital. Together, we're talking through a few key topics that have been top of mind in recent months:

How many AI-powered, or AI-using writing tools can the market support?
How far into the generative AI moment we are, and how much we should anticipate in the form of technology improvements?
And then we discussed the nuts and bolts aspects of pricing an AI-powered service and other financial matters related to building a service today that leans on artificial intelligence.

The last question is far from idle. Recall that back in 2020 there was conversation amongst venture players about the economics of AI startups, with the perspective at the time indicating that while the cohort might have more difficult early economics, that their numbers (gross margins, really) would improve over time. But what about when a startup is using, say, an OpenAI API for its core AI work? Will similar efficiencies bloom?

Equity is back into its regular groove now that Disrupt is behind us — more to come!

And before we go: Check out the UpFlip Podcast where you get to unravel how great businesses are built, how they are run behind the scenes and how their success can be replicated. We think you'll love episode 79 where they featured this guest who transformed his passion for gardening into a $7.3 million-a-year venture. You can find the podcast on Youtube or where ever you listen to podcasts.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Equity Monday: Everyone loves Anthropic Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

Equity is back from Disrupt and fired up for the rest of the year. Here’s what Alex got into today:

Stocks are not peppy to start the week, while crypto prices have also moderated in recent days.
Alex could not not talk about the Cisco-Splunk deal, mostly to promise that he’ll finish that post today come hell or high water.
The Amazon + Anthropic news is the biggest item of the day. A $1.25 billion deal that could stretch to $4 billion is no small fee. And with Google and Amazon and Anthropic tied up and Microsoft buddied to OpenAI we could be seeing big tech choosing sides in the LLM model war.
Meta is building AI chatbots, while Apple is working to build more stuff in India.
To close out, Correcto’s neat round, and the finalists from Startup Battlefield 2023 — more on the winner of Battlefield here.

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you feeling Disrupted? Sep 22, 2023

Show notes

The Equity crew is back with another live recording from the Moscone Center in San Francisco for TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. Alex, Kirsten and Becca sat down to recap a very busy (and dare we say successful) event, and walk through our favorite moments for the listeners who couldn't make it out this year.

Here's what we got into: