Equity

Latest Episodes:

Sequoia does to itself what the Biden administration wants to do with Google Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

All the cool kids are filling out the Equity listener survey. We want to hear from you!

It was a hectic week, with little in the way of the traditional Summer Slowdown making itself known. So, here's what Alex and Mary Ann covered with some help from our dear friend Jacquie Melinek:

WWDC in a nutshell: In case you missed it, Apple had a big event this week. On tap were the usual run of software updates, and improved computers in both laptop and desktop format. And, you know, that other thing.
Affirm partners with Amazon (again): This is not Affirm's first tie-up with Amazon, but investors are pretty excited that the pair of companies are once again linking arms. As we continue to wait for mega-unicorn Klarna's IPO — more notes here — we are keeping our ears close the BNPL ground.
Cava's IPO continues to delight Alex: What has an IPO coming up and has this little podcast in a tizzy? Yep, it's Cava, the fast-casual chain that, thanks to a dollop or two of venture capital money, we get to cover!
All things SEC and Crypto: The SEC broke into its hammer closet so that it could go play whack-a-mole this week with crypto exchanges both foreign and domestic.
Sequoia does to itself what regulators want to do to Google: What has three parts and is now competing with itself? Sequoia. Think of it like an inverse Google, if you will.
How real estate will affect the climate crisis: It turns out that construction is not so good for the planet. And with a commercial real estate crisis brewing, can we add one to one and get five?

Next week, Equity is on vacation! We're taking a breather before launching into another massive run of shows, but we'll be back before you know it.

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

Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us onApple Podcasts,Overcast,Spotifyand all the casts. TechCrunch also has agreat show on crypto, ashow that interviews founders, one thatdetails how our stories come together 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.

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Charting the future of the early-stage venture market with Carta’s CEO Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

This week, we had Carta CEO Henry Ward on to chat through the early-stage market with us.

Alex had a grip of data and a sheaf of questions, so here's what we got into:

The current state of the early-stage venture capital market: From Ward's perspective, the early-stage market is in better shape than many folks think. It's the later-stages of venture capital that are the most moribund. We also riffed on the quality of startups that are raising today, and how much pain is coming for young tech companies that can't quite attract more capital.
Carta's new Seed and Series A product: Carta is offering a mostly-automated method of closing early-stage rounds; we wanted to better understand the economics of the effort, and what the unicorn hopes to achieve from the work.
We closed with a look ahead, and a series of fun closing questions with Ward.

That's just the high-level summary. We also discussed entrepreneurship more broadly, the importance of LLCs, and even how to construct a podcast interview.

Don't forget: our listener survey is back! Take a moment to let us know what you want more of, what you want less of, and how we can make this the kind of podcast you want to come back to every week. Chat 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, one that details how our stories come together and more!

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Equity Monday: Revenge of the Mutual Funds Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

Here’s what Alex got into today:

Stocks are mixed around the world this morning while crypto stays pretty flat. Earnings this week that we’re excited about include Gitlab, Couchbase, Yext, Smartsheet, and Hashicorp. (We’re also keeping an eye on the Atomic Wallet hack.)
Reddit’s proposed API changes (charges, more like) are having a pretty big impact on the service’s userbase; there are calls for a blackout of certain forums in response to the proposed updates. Reddit, on the other hand, is a business and needs to make money.
Sticking to social media, news broke this morning that Twitter’s revenues are down sharply compared to year-ago totals, at least when we consider its American advertising incomes. Twitter does more than just ads in North America, but given that it’s likely a pretty big chunk of its total top line, it’s not good news.
Canva’s valuation was slashed by a mutual fund (something that we have seen a lot lately), the latest in a string of similar headlines for other unicorns.
Closing, WWDC is today. Get. Hype.

Don't forget: our listener survey is back! If you can, please take a moment to let us know what you want more of, what you want less of, and how we can make this the kind of podcast you want to come back to every week.

Equity will be back on Thursday this week, but in the meantime, you can catch us on Twitter @EquityPod.

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

Equity drops at 7:00 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, one that details how our stories come together and more!

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Okay startup names and why fintech is rebounding Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

Mary Ann and Alex were a busy pair this week, so much so that they tagged in Dominic-Madori Davis from the TechCrunch+ crew to help out.

Before we kick things off, our listener survey is back! If you can, please take a moment to let us know what you want more of, what you want less of, and how we can make this the kind of podcast you want to come back to every week.

Now, here's what we got into:

Fraud is bad: Elizabeth Holmes is in jail, and the SEC wrapped insider trading charges against a former Coinbase staffer. Our take? Breaking business law is bad and perhaps people should not do it. Controversial, we know.
Deals of the Week: Alex is enamored with Web Roulette, while Mary Ann wanted to talk about Stripe's deal to buy Okay.
Klarna's Q1 2023 results led Alex to share some enthusiasm that the fintech market could be rebounding, a topic that he's been going on about for some time.
QED's plans to invest its new funds carefully is a clear example of the new investing climate, Mary Ann argued. The show also touched on our latest check-in on the a16z early-stage strategy.
And we closed, thanks to Dom, with a chat through the Atlanta startup scene in advance of our upcoming City Spotlight.

Equity will be back on Monday, but in the meantime, you can catch us on Twitter @EquityPod. And for the early-stage founders out there, don’t forget to apply for the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023!

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

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SecureSave's secret weapon: Suze Orman May 31, 2023

Show notes

This week, Mary Ann hopped on the mic with number one New York Times best selling author, producer, personal finance thought leader, and host of the Women & Money podcast, Suze Orman. We’re following up on Suze’s not-so-surprising-startup debut with SecureSave, what the company’s been up to and how Suze is thinking about protecting employees in today’s economy.

Here’s what we got into:

How little money many Americans have saved for emergencies and how SecureSave wants to change that
How inflation may be making it harder for people to save when they have less money to do so
We ended, as always, with a “lightning” round Q&A in which Suze revealed her secret weapon for success

For the startup founders listening, today is your last chance to apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023! Fill out those applications while you still can, and Mary Ann and Alex will be back Friday to close out your week with a special guest.

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

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Equity Monday: AI can do everything, but can crypto do something? May 30, 2023

Show notes

This week, crypto prices are static, unlike a particular valuation and Alex is still mad about SPACs. Here's the rundown:

Stocks around the world are happy that America is once again going to avoid a default; congrats, United States.
At the same time, the crypto market is a bit boring right now, due in large part to muted trading volumes as the crypto winter tests new low temperatures.
No one knows what Byju's is worth, but Blackrock is marking its price in one consistent direction.
Serve Robotics is having a good run as a startup, partnering up with its prior parent company.
The WSJ has some great data on SPACs that drove us nuts.

Whew. What a way to start the week! We are back tomorrow!

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, one that details how our stories come together and more!

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

Daylight's sunset and Meta's year of focus May 26, 2023

Show notes

Mary Ann and Alex were a dynamic duo this week, and here's what they got into:

The fascinating backers of Checkmate, and the future of online shopping: Mary Ann covered a very interesting Series A for Checkmate, a startup that not only has shown real legs on the competitive App Store, but also on social media platforms far and wide.
Cava's IPO won't save the IPO market, but it could help all the same: Alex is so IPO-deprived that he's drawing connections between anything that files and the startup market. This time it's not even that much of a stretch!
Daylight calls it quits: From the 'not a huge surprise' category comes the end of Daylight, a neobank aimed at the LGBTQ+ market that has been struggling for a while yet. This begged the question are themed neobanks going to make it?
Layoffs, Layoffs, Layoffs: Soundcloud is cutting staff to get to profitability, which we can understand. Meta is cutting staff because it, well, wants to conserve capital for more share buybacks?
Anthropic's massive funding round and who is going to win the AI war? When is $450 million not that much money? When you are building foundational AI models that are taking on OpenAI and others. Also in this section: Cold War metaphors.

And with that, we're heading off into a holiday weekend here in the US, so Equity will be back next Tuesday.

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

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When will the paper unicorns fold? May 24, 2023

Show notes

This week, Alex sat down with GGV Capital's Jeff Richards, an investor who has perspective on the last venture boom and the resulting dénouement of that particular saga that we've been covering since the end of 2021. Richards has been an investor since 2008, so he's seen a business cycle or two, which convinced us that he'd be the perfect person to discuss the diverging fates of late-stage startups.

Here's what we got into:

The idea that all unicorns are in trouble is wrong; some late-stage startups got it right.
What this means for some eventual IPOs, and for those that didn't, likely some liquidations as well (some examples here, but the list is longer than that post outlines).
We also talked about the existence of unifying characteristics at late-stage startups that are doing well, and how to note early signals that the venture climate is about to molt.

As always, Equity will be back on Friday with your weekly news round up, but until then, you can catch us on Twitter @EquityPod

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

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Equity Monday: Meta and data, chips and dips, and crypto and meltdowns May 22, 2023

Show notes

Today, we are talking about Meta’s latest fines, what’s new in chips, and a few startup rounds that caught our eye!

Stocks aren’t moving too much this morning, which could change if the American government voluntarily defaults over some bullshit. Crypto hasn’t moved too much lately, though we are keeping tabs on overall trading volume.
Meta was hit with a record fine over how it handled EU user data. Data residency is a big deal and will likely crop up in future conversations concerning generative AI models and where they source their own data and from whom.
China has banned some Micron products, irking the United States. The two economic powerhouses are working to distance themselves from one another in key technology areas. Elsewhere in chip-land, Applied Materials is investing in the United States and there are labor concerns regarding the sheer number of chips projects kicking off here at home.
Patient21 raised a massive round for its software-and-services healthcare business, while Infinite Uptime raised more money for its “predictive maintenance solutions for machinery.”

Whew! And that’s just the start! See you back here Wednesday for more!
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, one that details how our stories come together and more!

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The billionaires are trying to live longer… again May 19, 2023

Show notes

This week Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex gathered to chew through the biggest news of the week. Here’s what the gang got into today:

Vice goes bankrupt: Now is not a great time for media companies. The advertising market is in the toilet, layoffs are rampant, and the end of Vice is like a cherry atop a trash sundae. Mary Ann points out during the show that some operational difficulties were at play at the company. Here’s a real unicorn death for us to stare at.
Deal Dive: AI. AI coaching. AI human relationship coaching? It’s a thing, and whether or not it is the future, we have questions.
Freshly-Nestle: How often do you see a venture firm sue an acquirer? Not very often. We dig into the what and why of the Freshly suit.
Why is Musk buying other companies? What do you do if you buy a company and fire most of its staff? You buy a tech jobs platform, it turns out.
NewLimit and the limits of life: NewLimit is a company that Alex likes. Why? Because he doesn’t want to die before he can go to space. Mary Ann and Becca noted that the company’s setup is more than non-traditional. For NewLimit, the proof will be in the pudding.
What’s ahead for venture debt? Becca’s work on the venture debt landscape has been critical reading since the SVB crisis unfolded earlier this year. Her latest venture survey helped us understand where founders will be hunting up capital in the back half of 2023 and beyond.

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