Equity

Latest Episodes:

Is there hope for digital health startups post-Roe? May 18, 2022

Show notes

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha asked: How do digital health startups build in a post-Roe world?

The question comes after Natasha’s recent Startups Weekly column, "When your startup’s core mission is set to be overturned." The piece explores the ripple effects of the looming Roe v. Wade overturn, specifically in how it impacts startups. But, let's not hypothesize. We brought on Kiki Freedman, the CEO and co-founder of Hey Jane, to answer our big questions about building, raising, and existing when so much regulatory scrutiny is weighing on your business. A direct-to-consumer health company that specializes in the delivery of abortion pills, Hey Jane about to kick off its fundraising process which makes for an interesting tension. The startup - especially today - really sits in the middle of two intense moments: an overturn to Roe v. Wade would threaten all of its work, and a toughening, risk-averse VC market could be a hurdle toward next financing.

Enjoy the show, and let us know if you like this interview format. Also, here's the Found interview that we referenced during the show as well!

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

What's ahead for crypto startups? May 16, 2022

Show notes

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Every Monday, Grace and Alex scour the news and record notes on what’s going on to kick off the week.

What was on our minds this morning? The following:

Global markets are generally down, albeit nothing too terrifying. The American stock market is trying to regain its footing after weeks of selling.
What's ahead for crypto startups in the wake of the Terra/Luna meltdown? Bloomberg wonders about a general slowdown, and we look at the Crunchbase data of who backed the ill-fated stablecoin.
Startup layoffs are accelerating -- not as bad as before, but enough to warrant our attention. Layoffs.FYI is back, y'all!
The Topship round, invested in by Y Combinator and Flexport, has our recent look at CVC hitting just right.

It was an awful weekend in America, which leaked into the show somewhat. Take care of one another.

A few housekeeping notes before we go: This is not a live-show week, so Equity will simply come out on Wednesday and Friday mornings. And this week is our TC Sessions: Mobility event, which you can learn more about here.

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

How close are we to understanding what's going on? May 13, 2022

Show notes

This week we recorded live, which is always good fun, meaning that we took some questions from the audience. If you want that version of the show, we have a YouTube archive of it here.

For those of you more into audio, we have you covered here. Natasha, Alex, and Grace teamed up with Julio and Yashad to host the shindig, allowing us to cover the following:

The end of iPod, a time to reflect on technology trends.
The exit of a Modern Fertility co-founder, and the MARA round bringing more money to Africa's fintech scene.
From there it was onto the Terra crash, Coinbase's earnings, and the general sentiment shift in the crypto scene.
Next up was Tiger and the downturn in startup valuations.
And we closed on some personal notes.

All told we had a blast. Mary Ann is back with us next week! Chat soon!

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

Tech layoffs don't happen to companies, they happen to people May 11, 2022

Show notes

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex asked: What does the most recent wave of layoffs mean for tech workers?

The question comes after Natasha’s recent Startups Weekly column, "The Great Resignation, meet the Great Reset." In the piece, which included a round up of recent tech layoffs, she explored the idea of employee whiplash, and why this moment in pullback is different than what we saw in March 2020.

The goal of the episode was to humanize the tech layoffs we've seen ripple across the startup ecosystem, from buzzy, big names like Cameo, On Deck and Robinhood, to B2B platforms like Workrise and Thrasio. As our piece last week notes, the common thread between most of these layoffs, according to founders, is that there’s been a shift in the market and a serious pivot in business is required. A pivot, that is, that hurts the employees that built your product up after high demand.

Let us know how we did?

If you or a friend has recently been laid off, tip Natasha Mascarenhas or Alex Wilhelm on Twitter @nmasc_ and @alex.

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

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

The dominoes are falling May 09, 2022

Show notes

Happily once again we did not start the day by talking about Elon Musk and Twitter, though the news was not really very good:

Stocks are down sharply around the world. And crypto prices, which track larger asset prices, are also sharply lower in the last day, and week.
Uber's CEO told his company that things are changing. Adjusted EBITDA is out, FCF is in. Hiring? Going to slow. Capital expenses? Those will get harder looks, and so on. During the show, we asked about the slowdown, and how it may, or may not impact the bouyant crypto startup market.
Neat funding rounds from Pyramid, which raised $120 million, and Paymob, which raised $50 million.

We are recording live this weekend, so catch the show on Thursday as we record our Friday episode! Chat soon!

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

Stripe is playing checkers with Plaid May 06, 2022

Show notes

The crew was back at full-speed, and maybe even full excitement meets exhaustion, this week. Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas and Mary Ann Azevedo were on the mic with moral and edit support from the wonderful Grace. If we had to give this episode it's own autobiography we'd call it: "Drama, tech twitter and therapeutic moments in between."

We got into a whole ton of news including:

Musk's new best friends back his $44 billion bid for Twitter - and why one of them are probably experiencing deja vu.
For deals of the week, Natasha spoke about Line's play for more inclusive fintech, Mary Ann got into Truist paying attention (and money) to a fintech startup and Alex took us to the music world with the latest on SoundCloud's thought bubbles.
Then we talked about how digital health startups are bracing for a Post-Roe world, and which companies to pay attention to. (Insider tip: We're taking about this topic in more depth on Equity Wednesday, coming up next week!)
Next up, how early can early stage investor go? Recent news from Backstage Capital includes a milestone and a pause - and has us scratching our heads on what other pivots we may see from investment firms.
Finally, we ended with our favorite part of the show and spoke about the latest Stripe and Plaid drama. The two companies went from partners to competitors this week, and we talk about the tensions that result.

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotifyand all the casts.

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

Ok, this one is for the crypto-curious May 04, 2022

Show notes

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex asked: What do the crypto-curious need to know to be more savvy about the space? Better than our question, though, was our company: we brought on Anita Ramaswamy and Lucas Matney, the minds behind TechCrunch's newest podcast Chain Reaction. The crypto-focused pod launched a few weeks ago and already has a lot of folks' attention. We highly recommend a listen, and maybe start with the one that will glow up your retirement savings strategy.

Back to today, though, us four chatted through some of the largest questions that entrants into crypto may be thinking about, including untangling web3's complex jargon around decentralization to examine whether it really is different from what other tech companies are already doing. We also took a reporter's notebook lens to crypto coverage, asking if journalists need to be investors in order to report and understanding just how hard conflicts of interests can be to extract. Super light topics, you know us!

https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/24/techcrunch-debuts-chain-reaction-a-new-podcast-about-the-wild-world-of-web3/

Thanks again to our favorite duo for joining us and don’t forget that Equity is very present on Twitter these days, so follow us there for other mid-week musings.

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

How to failwhale the blockchain May 02, 2022

Show notes

Thankfully we did not start this episode by talking about Elon Musk and Twitter! You are welcome!
Instead we started with bleak Chinese economic news, that segued into falling venture capital totals for a key startup sector in that country. It turns out that a massive regulatory crackdown will have in-market impacts!
From there it was time to chat Yuga Labs and its recent minting chaos. Bloomberg has more.
Then it was time to chat neobanks, in particular the recent rounds from Open ($50 million) and Cogni ($23 million).

This is not a live show week, so Equity will simply come out on Friday as usual. That said, we do have a Twitter space scheduled for today with our own Kirsten Korosec, so follow us on Twitter and we will see you there.

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

Does it smell like teen spirit, or teen bankruptcy? Apr 29, 2022

Show notes

This was a live week! Which meant that Mary Ann Azevedo was on the mic with Alex Wilhelm, and Grace Mendenhall, our ever-trusty producer, helped us power through. A big shoutout to Dennis, Julio, and Yashad for getting all the tech working well.

Right, what did we dive into during our live taping? A lot!

The latest from the Elon Musk-Twitter saga, including the social media company's earnings and how it is somewhat sensitive to market sentiment; Musk won't have infinite room with which to maneuver once he owns Twitter.
For rounds of the week, Mary Ann chatted through the recent Umaro raise -- who doesn't love talking about bacon? -- and Alex picked the latest from the self-driving front.
From there it was time to talk layoffs at Robinhood and other companies, focused around how some companies that did well in the pandemic are now suffering from what could be described as at least a hangover.
And we closed with notes on Copper and Step and the ethics of teens investing in crypto. Which led us to question putting crypto in your 401k. Views vary!

Equity is back Monday! Chat then!

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

Yes, we're talking about Elon Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha was out due to a family matter, so Alex and Amanda came together to chat through the larger Elon Musk-Twitter saga.

Yes, the TechCrunch crew got together on Tuesday for a very long, fun, and relaxed Twitter Space when the news broke. However, instead of going back through all that audio to just pull out the key bits, we decided to focus ourselves down to the core elements of that team chat and produce something a bit tighter.

Here's our question set:

How much of an active participant will Elon really be?
What does the deal mean for Twitter employees?
What impact will the sale have on security, and algorithmic transparency?
The free speech question
What does the transaction mean for users?

In case you need more, our coverage of locked code changes is here, more on the privacy question here, and our larger tick-tock can be read here. Ok, we are live on Thursday for the live show! Chat then!

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