Founders, whales and the sea change in the entrepreneurial energy

Equity, Found
873 Episodes • Last Episode: July 3, 2024

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

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: Despite all the dollars and deals out there, does a drop in activation energy change how many entrepreneurs we’ll see in the early-stage market?

But, we’re not alone! Found co-hosts Jordan Crook and Darrell Etherington hopped on the mics to do a rare cross-over episode with us. They spend every week on Found talking to early-stage founders about everything from origin stories, to pivots, to some of the hardest decisions that leaders need to make these days. Big thanks to the duo for joining us, and without further ado, here’s what we got to:

  • Who is succeeding right now, and what are the types of founders that we’re seeing more often?
  • Is there anything that can be done differently when it comes to activating unlikely founders?
  • How do you square up a need for more business fundamentals with an asset class designed for rocketships?
  • Risk, luck and what the heck do whales and fizzy water have to do with this?

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, Spotify and all the casts.

Equity, Found Hosts

Author Avatar
Natasha Mascarenhas

Senior Reporter

Author Avatar
Alex Wilhelm

Senior Reporter

Author Avatar
Jordan Crook

Author Avatar
Darrell Etherington

Editor at Large

Latest

Equity, Found

Episodes

What’s the common thread between Tesla, building startups, General Motors venture capital and Lyft?  Jon McNeill, co-founder and partner of DVx Ventures, joins TechCrunch editor…

Jon McNeill on VC 2.0 and creating startups in house

Welcome back to another recap of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups. This episode is jam-packed with deals, hot topics and the…

AI-powered drug development, VW teams up with Rivian and DEI is ‘bad’

When Paul Hedrick left his private equity career to launch Tecovas in 2015, he knew he wanted to sell the brand’s signature cowboy boots a…

Why Tecovas sought out physical sales first despite its DTC dreams

Apple has been named the first of tech’s so-called “gatekeepers” to be charged for violating the EU’s Digital Markets Act. In a press release this…

The EU’s DMA is coming for Apple, and X bots are on the loose

Get ready for a jam-packed episode of Equity, TechCrunch’s flagship podcast about the business of startups! This week, co-hosts Mary Ann Azevedo and Haje Kamps…

Ilya Sutskever’s new AI venture, and time to BeReal about bankruptcy
Startups

Do co-CEOs make sense?

In this week’s episode of Equity, Haje Kamps and Mary Ann Azevedo delve into the recent decision by fintech company Brex to abandon its co-CEO…

Do co-CEOs make sense?

Steve Case is no stranger to how policy can help aid innovation. His former company AOL would have been dead in the water if not…

Steve Case on why policy is crucial to make sure AI success isn’t concentrated to a few players

This week on Equity, we discussed some big news that really matters: How Black founders are addressing the diversity gap in AI chatbots. We’ve all…

Black founders are customizing ChatGPT as crypto makes a comeback

In today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Mary Ann Azevedo, Becca Szkutak and Haje Kamps dug into three very different but all interesting deals of the week. Haje…

Raspberry Pi goes public, Musk drops his OpenAI lawsuit and startups compete with Apple Intelligence

Vanessa Larco, a partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), believes that generative AI’s impact on the world of SaaS could be huge. The investor joined…

NEA’s Vanessa Larco says generative AI will change the SaaS pricing model – and that’s a good thing

Perhaps it is not surprising to hear that many of the pots and pans we use are coated in a poisonous chemical called Teflon that…

Creating cookware that won’t poison you

Apple’s WWDC is just hours away, and we’re gearing up for big announcements on — you guessed it — AI. TechCrunch’s Brian Heater tells us…

Byju’s valuation shakeup and what’s ahead for WWDC

As always, there was a lot happening in startup land this week, and the Equity team had so much fun breaking it down for you.…

Robinhood’s crypto bet, AI-powered healthcare, and Fisker’s fall 

Consumer startups have taken a hit when it comes to venture funding. But according to Eurie Kim, partner at Forerunner Ventures and founding member of…

Every startup has AI in its pitch deck and it should

There is estimated to be 40 million acres of lawn or turf grass in the U.S., making the grass in people’s backyards one of the…

Sunday is helping people take better care of their lawns — and the environment too

We’re kicking off the week with a deep dive from this weekend into the demise of electric vehicle startup Fisker at the hands of its…

Inside the demise of EV startup Fisker, and X’s new rules allow adult content

Welcome back to Friday Equity! We kick things off with the Deal of the Week. First up, xAI. Elon Musk has once again proven that…

Who’s (not) IPO-ing, and what’s going on with BaaS?

It’s no secret that the bar for startups to land a Series A has risen, but has it risen too high? According to Jenny Fielding,…

Peering into the ‘Series A chasm’ with Everywhere Ventures’ Jenny Fielding

What’s one to do after creating a billion-dollar startup? Well, if you’re Rubrik co-founder Arvind Jain, you simply start another one.  Jain co-founded Glean, an…

Arvind Jain created AI that actually makes your job easier

We’re kicking off the short week with news about Elon Musk, and no, it’s not about X or Tesla. Instead, we’re talking about Musk’s other…

Musk’s xAI raises fresh capital while Synapse’s bankruptcy could impact millions

It was an event-filled week in startup land, and the Equity crew had a blast breaking it down for you. On today’s episode of TechCrunch’s…

The proposed AI ‘kill switch,’ and why it’s rough out there for emerging fund managers

For this episode of Equity, we spoke to two Aussie VCs: Dan Krasnostein of Square Peg and Gabrielle Munzer of Main Sequence.

How Australian startups can crack the US market

Last week was a big one for AI news, and one thing that stood out to us was OpenAI’s deal with Reddit. Per the terms of…

Maven takes the clout-chasing out of social media as Reddit teams up with OpenAI

If there was one thing we heard about this week, it was AI. As a matter of fact, there were so many AI updates to…

AI’s busy week, and why the heck are so many VCs leaving their firms?

When Newchip, an online accelerator promising to help startups, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2023, it was revealed that the company had just…

Newchip’s bankruptcy serves as a cautionary tale to founders

OpenAI gears up for a big announcement, and Apple Store workers authorize a strike

Last week was a busy one for some Apple Store employees. Over the weekend, workers at Apple’s Towson, Maryland, store — the first Apple retail store to have a formally recognized union — voted to authorize a strike. While the date of the strike is still being determined, the union has been negotiating with Apple…

OpenAI gears up for a big announcement, and Apple Store workers authorize a strike

Finally, some good news! This week, we were pleasantly surprised to see that FTX’s fraud victims would be getting some money back — even if…

Acquisitions are heating up, and Mercury eyes the fintech crown

Good news, crypto founders! Venture capital activity is picking up in the sector, recovering from the multiyear lows investments fell to in late 2023. Put…

$450M for Noname, two billion-dollar rounds, and good news for crypto startups

News that Jack Dorsey is out at Bluesky caused a stir this weekend. After all, Dorsey is a former Twitter co-founder and CEO, so his investment of…

Dorsey leaves Bluesky, tech giants do more with less, and the next IPO

The downturn in venture capital funding has impacted startups, VC firms, and accelerators alike. One company in the final category, Techstars, has been shaking up…

Inside TC’s Techstars investigation and how AI is accelerating disability tech