TechCrunch is more than just a site with words. We’re also building a growing stable of podcasts focused on the most critical topics relating to the startup and venture capital worlds. To help you find the right show for your interests, we’ve compiled our audio output from the week.
Embedded below is the latest from Chain Reaction, our new and stellar crypto-focused podcast hosted by Lucas and Anita. You will also find Found, a long-form bit of work that goes deep on the real saga of company formation from Jordan and Darrell. There’s an audio-only version of TechCrunch Live hosted by Matt that features founders and investors discussing successful pitch decks. Finally, there’s Equity, TechCrunch’s long-running, Webby-award-winning podcast focused on venture capital and the latest startup news, hosted by Natasha, Mary Ann and Alex.
We have more coming, so stay tuned. And if you are more into the written over the spoken word, well we have newsletters on the above topics as well.
Chain Reaction
Episode 6: Lightspeed’s web3 guru on consumer crypto startups and the metaverse (with Mercedes Bent)
Welcome back, this week Lucas and Anita discuss the continued fallout from the broader market crash and how life is going for crypto giants on the public markets. We chat about FTX’s 30-year-old billionaire CEO buying up a big chunk of Robinhood, which is pumping the gas on crypto even as the market cools. We also discuss trouble at Coinbase and the continued fallout from the collapse of Terra.
In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita chat with Mercedes Bent. Bent is a venture capitalist at Lightspeed Venture Partners where she places bets on consumer products in cryptoland. Before joining Lightspeed, Bent spent some time in the VR world, so we picked her brain on where crypto fits into this metaverse future everyone is clamoring about.
Subscribe to the Chain Reaction newsletter to dive deeper: https://techcrunch.com/newsletters
Found
Episode 57: Justin Intal, Forage
Justin Intal from Forage joined the Found crew live. He talks about how profound struggles in her personal life motivated him to create a way for online grocers to accept EBT and SNAP benefits. He also talked about the importance of vulnerability and transparency as a CEO. Each failure is learning, so he is not about hiding his past failed companies or ideas–in fact he has them written out on his Linkedin.
Take our listener survey and let us know a bit about yourself and what you think of FOUND.
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Equity
Episode 518: A Twitter Bot Wrote This
The whole team was back together this week, which was pretty darn good as there was a lot to get through. Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas and Mary Ann Azevedo were on the mic, with Grace handling production.
What did we get into? A better question might be what did we not get into:
- We started with an update from the TechCrunch Mobility event, thanks to Natasha who is on-site and up in the air.
- From there it was time to talk deals, with the crew parsing Arrived’s latest round, and why Kolkata Chai took some external capital, but very much on its own terms.
- Then it was time to chat Zenly’s new mapping news, and why startups are critical when it comes to taking on incumbents.
- From there we had to ask if Elon Musk really wants to buy Twitter (seemingly no?), and how tired we are about the topic itself.
- Then we chatted through the recent unicorn vibe check that the market got, and the fact that most unicorns are not true IPO candidates. (Along with news from SpotOn, and Unit!)
- And to close, we asked about the responsibilities of tech platforms in the wake of a number of mass shootings in the United States; where should our expectations for content moderation on platforms start, and end?
Hugs from us to you, and we will talk to you Monday!
Episode 517: Is there hope for digital health startups post-Roe?
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!
Episode 516: What’s ahead for crypto startups?
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
And that’s the rundown from the week — send us a tweet if you have suggestions, or questions. Onward!
