Equity

It’s been more than a minute since Tesla went public, but the EV company was inescapable on TechCrunch this week. From layoffs to pricing changes and more, it was a week dyed deeply in Tesla colors so we had to chat through the latest.But that was just one element of what we got into on Equity this week. We also dug into Mary Ann’s reporting about Ramp’s latest round — and up valuation — that fit neatly next to Rippling’s own impending fundraise. If you are handling money, it’s a good time to be a startup.The team also dug into Cherub, which wants to connect investors and founders, Maven Ventures’ consumer investing push, and touched on what Mercury is up to. All told, we were fortunate to have Kirsten Korosec along with us this week given the sheer volume, and diversity of transportation news to chew through, especially as it relates to Tesla.Equity is back tomorrow with a special interview between Mary Ann and Notable Capital's Hans Tung, so stay tuned! Until then, hit play and let’s have some fun.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

What is worth $11 billion and wants to go to Mars to collect rocks? NASA’s mission to Mars to collect rocks that was expected to cost $11 billion and take ages. So, the U.S. space agency is throwing the doors open to get more input, and that means that startups are looking at an opportunity that is truly out of this world.But that’s not the only thing going on. Today’s Equity episode is focused on all things startups, which means we also got to chat through Two Chairs’ recent and massive Series C, Quilt’s heat pump work and fundraise, and several IPO updates. Here’s hoping that after Ibotta and Rubrik get out the door, more IPOs follow.Also on the show today was a grip of venture capital news. Bay Bridge Ventures is raising a $200 million climate fund — it has lots of good company there, given rising LP interest in climatetech more generally — and a SpaceX alum is building a new VC firm that we covered.To close, the massive, gobsmackingly big $7.2 billion worth of new funds from a16z. We dug into their breakdown on the podcast, but the short version is that it appears that the venture slowdown has not managed to impede the venture firm’s golden touch when it comes to fundraising. Hit play, let’s have some fun!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

It’s only Monday morning, but it already feels like Thursday given the sheer amount of news that’s flowing in.We have two critical headlines for you today:OpenAI is planning to open an office in Tokyo and launch a new GPT-4 model for the Japanese language. The U.S., EU, and China are all racing for leadership in AI, and OpenAI’s foray into Japan could expand the list of leading blocs and nations.Tesla is cutting more than 10% of its total global workforce. CEO Elon Musk told employees in an internal email that the cuts were aimed at eliminating role duplications, but the company has been seeing its sales start to slow down, and some concern around waning demand for EVs could be playing a part in the decision to slash costs.There’s lots more going on: The price ranges for Rubrik’s IPO have been leaked; ShareChat has suffered a valuation beheading haircut, and global smartphone sales are picking up again. Hit play to catch up on what’s going to be the talk of Tech Twitter this week.We'll be back Wednesday with our mid-week startup and venture highlights!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

Today, the Equity crew dug into Automattic buying Beeper for $125 million. Recall that the WordPress parent company bought Texts.com last year for $50 million. Elsewhere in deal-land, Proton bought Standard Notes, and we recently discussed the Wonderschool-Early Day purchase. More, please!In the Deals of the Week column, Mary Ann chose Payjoy’s massive new run rate, while Alex wanted to riff on the Proxima Fusion round that could help bring the next energy revolution a little bit closer to reality.And to close out, we looked at Anna Heim’s latest on Y Combinator’s evaporating number of participating startups from Latin America, which we posit could have something to do with fintech falling out of favor with investors — and fintech being the startup category that we most associated with Latin America founder activity.Not that fintech is dead, far from it. But certainly we are an ocean or two away from the heady days we saw back in 2021. Equity is back Monday morning to kickstart your week! We’ll see you then!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

Today on Equity’s startup-focused Wednesday show, we dug into the Multiverse-Searchlight deal that reminded us of the Wonderschool-Early Day transaction that we covered on the show a few weeks back.We also dug into the latest Guesty round, which was both large and interesting from a financial perspective, the Monad Labs transaction that led us to try and explain the difference between L1 and L2 blockchains, and Cyera’s quick recent megaround. Put more simply, startup news is feeling very busy, and very high-dollar again, and that’s a lot of fun for the show.To round things out, we also squeezed in a new venture capital fund targeting growth-rounds in Africa.That's it for us today, but join us on Friday for our roundtable news roundup!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

Now that we are finally past Y Combinator’s demo day — though our Friday show is worth listening if you haven’t had a chance yet — we can dive into the latest news. So, this morning on Equity Monday we got into the chance that the United States might pass a real data privacy law. There’s movement to report, but we’re still very, very far from anything becoming law.Elsewhere, the U.S. and TSMC have a new deal, there’s gaming news to consider (and a venture tie-in), and Spotify’s latest AI plans, which I am sure will delight some and annoy others.Lastly, on the crypto front, trading volume of digital tokens seems to have partially arrested its free fall, which should help some exchanges breath a bit more easily.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

The AI boom, love it or find it to be a bit more hype than substance, is here to stay. That means lots of companies are raising oodles of dollars, a healthy dose of regulatory concern, academic work, and corporate jockeying. For startups, it means a huge opportunity to bring new technology to bear on a host of industries that could use a bit of polish.But if you read the news, you might notice that men are the far and away most cited, and discussed players in AI today. So, TechCrunch’s Dominic-Madori Davis and Kyle Wiggers decided to go out and talk to women working in AI to learn more about their work, how they got into the world of artificial intelligence, and more. The series has been running for some time now, so it was the perfect moment to get the pair of them onto the show for a chat about the project.Thus far they have interviewed folks like Irene Solaiman, head of global policy at Hugging Face, Sarah Kreps, professor of government at Cornell, and Heidy Khlaaf, safety engineering director at Trail of Bits.See you bright and early Monday morning for more!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

What a week, everyone. Two full days of Y Combinator demo day activity kept us busy, but the latest accelerator cohort’s launch was far from the only big story in startup-land. Today on the Equity’s Friday news roundup, Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex gathered to dig into favorites from the hundreds of new YC companies that pitched, and a new venture capital fund that wants to become “the investment and innovation arm of the autism community.”Becca wanted to talk about Seso and its fascinating fintech play in the agricultural space, while Alex brought Home From College and its recent Seed round to the mix.Then to close out, we chatted through the impending Ibotta and Rubrik IPOs. The latter deal could provide a fascinating heat-check for unprofitable unicorns that need to find some sort of exit, and quickly. All told we chatted through startups from their very earliest form all the way through their most mature. A very fitting capstone to the week! Hit play, and let’s have some fun.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This is our Wednesday show, when we take a moment to dig into a raft of startup and venture capital news. No big tech here!Keep in mind that Y Combinator's demo day kicks off today, so we're going to be snowed-under in startup news the rest of the week. Consider today's show the calm before the storm.AUDIOOn the podcast this morning we have BlaBlaCar's new credit facility and how it managed to land it, how PipeDreams could be onto a new model of startup construction, GoStudent's rebound and profitability, Hailo's chip business and massive new funding round, and the two new brands that GGV calls home as it divides up its operations on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

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 Monday show, where we dig into the weekend and take a peek at the week that is to come. We’ll talk more about Wednesday, but this is Y Combinator Demo Day week, so expect a deluge of startup news.On the podcast today we dug into the latest news from Discord that indicates it is moving towards opening its gates for advertisements. As I wrote back in 2022, this is the standard practice for tech companies that get big, even if we don’t love it as consumers. (Just look at YouTube’s ad load, for example.)We also got into this super-neat startup round concerning trucking, TechCrunch’s latest cybersecurity scoop which is big news for AT&T customers, and even upcoming changes to the Android podcasting ecosystem that will see YouTube Music gain even more prominence inside of Alphabet’s consumer empire. Hit play, and let’s have some fun!Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

As the week comes to a close, we're also shutting the book on the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the erstwhile crypto baron who is heading to prison for 25 years. But while the SBF news was a big deal, there was so very much more to cover on today's news roundup episode of Equity.With Kirsten Korosec, Mary Ann Azevedo, and Alex Wilhelm aboard this week, the crew dug into Robinhood's new credit card and what it can tell us about the strategy of major tech companies, Fisker's latest woes, and even Databricks' new AI model that it spent $10 million to spin up.But that wasn't enough. We also dug into two companies building startups focused around kids. One wants to help tots learn how to produce music, while the other is working to reduce waste and help parents care for their kids on a budget. Then, to wrap up, a look at just who unicorn founders really are, and a new $100 million fund that to back climate tech.Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This is our interview show, where we sit down with guests, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, Wonderschool, a startup that works with individuals and local governments to spin up more childcare businesses by providing software and other support, has acquired EarlyDay. EarlyDay, another venture-backed startup, operates a early childhood educator marketplace.Alex caught up with EarlyDay’s two former CEOs, Emma Harris and Melissa Tran, and their new boss, Chris Bennett at Wonderschool, to chat through the deal, what’s ahead for their sector, and more. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

Today on the show we had a lot of ground to cover: Stocks around the world are in retreat to start the week, while crypto prices have themselves given back some recent gains. The biggest news item that we covered this morning was the exit of Stability AI’s CEO, the company’s revenue growth and burn rate have come into question before, making the move all the more newsy.Over in the EU, a number of U.S.-based tech companies are under inquiry thanks to the new Digital Markets Act. At some point you have to wonder if tech giants are going to find a better working relationship with the bloc.And speaking of Europe, Spotify’s next push is another non-musical effort, which I had a few thoughts about. None of which were incredibly excited, I have to admit. The news from China, including it getting the Vision Pro next, and a push to get Intel and AMD chips out of state computers. And we closed with this beverage startup report!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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This week we had Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex aboard. Here's what the crew got into:Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to talk about Onyx, a neobank aimed at wealthy early-to-middle career adults. It's pivoting to B2B and is not, despite what the Internet said, dead. Alex wanted to discuss Montauk Climate, a climate incubator set up by the former co-founder of Casper and the recent Marc Lore/Wonder deal. The climate isn't doing well, in case you've missed the news. So, projects like this are welcome. And Becca brought Ethos Fund to the table, allowing us to discuss cross-border investing.The upcoming Saudi AI push: What has lots of capital and is ready to pour it into AI investments? Sure, your local venture scene but also the Saudi Arabian government. Notable venture funds have been flying to the Middle Eastern state to raise capital, but perhaps in the future the capital will come for them.How some VCs are holding back an IPO rush: A recent Becca investigation unearthed an interesting finding, namely that it may not be the fault of late-stage founders that their companies are not going public. Their backers might actually be the ones holding the door closed.Oh, and Reddit started trading during our recording slot, and it's doing well!We are back Monday with more! Chat then!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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

Today we have a grip of startup stories, and a venture capital item that isn’t as bad of news as it seems at first blush. Here’s the rundown:Astera Labs is going public after pricing above-range. We’ll see how it trades today, but it’s good news that the first real tech IPO of the year set its share price at $36, higher than even its raised price interval.TigerEye’s $35 million round for business intelligence gives us a peek at how tech could help businesses navigate the future. There’s a YC connection as well, which is worth keeping in mind.Pocket FM’s mega round shows that consumer-focused technology plays can still pay handsomely. Even more notably, Pocket FM’s business model is contra-subscription, which is delightfully different.And then there’s the Inflection AI-Microsoft-saga, which is part startup story, part corporate venture capital story, and part antitrust story.We also touched on the boom in two-wheel electric vehicle companies in India, and why one pension fund’s move to lower its venture allocation isn’t as worrying as it might sound.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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. We’re coming to the end of earnings season, which means that there are just a few weeks left in the first quarter.With spring in the air, here’s what we got into this morning:Apple may tap Google for AI: Sure, Apple is working on its own AI tech, but Google’s Gemini model could be headed for an iPhone near you. Bloomberg broke the news.Grok goes open source: As promised, xAI’s LLM Grok is out for people to play with. Most importantly, startup founders seem excited.Reddit’s IPO makes progress: Oversubscription is always a good signal, but is also no promise of IPO riches to come.Gumroad says ‘no thanks’ to NSFW content: Another year, another platform booting adult creators. It’s a tale as old as time!Gaming is coming to LinkedIn: Look I don’t know what to tell you other than that all platforms eventually become one.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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

Hello, and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. The podcast turns seven this week, so in honor of its birthday drop us a review? More, newer reviews helps more folks discover the show, and makes our corporate parent happy!Today our beloved Mary Ann was off on well-deserved break, so our friend and fellow-podcaster Rebecca Szkutak was kind enough to bring her insight and humor to the podcast this fine Friday. Here’s what we got into:The latest in legal: The push to force a divestment of TikTok or ban it in the United States is making progress, as the EU finishes hammering out its new AI regulations.Deals of the Week: Peak XV’s new, fascinating fund vehicle and what it may tell us about the Indian startup market. And, Ad Ventures’ new $80 million fund that felt rather contra-narrative in the best possible way.AI, privacy: In the wake of AI getting booed at SXSW, we took a look at several new AI startups that are raising rounds for their audio-focused projects. These included Nijta and Tavus, not to mention a host of startups from the current Y Combinator cohort.What to do when there’s no liquidity? Becca has the answer, and the answer is not going public. That’s the bad news. The good news is that secondary transactions might be a way to resolve lots of founder-investor tension regarding exit timing.And with that, we are back on Monday! Chat then!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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This is our Wednesday episode, in which we dig into critical startup news to stay abreast of what founders and venture capitalists are working on.Today on the podcast, we got through the following:New data from Carta digging into startup compensation, and how it is changing;How one startup is profiting off death, but in a way that is actually great;Bear Robotics, and its killer new round for cute serving robots;New stuff from BlueSky (all about moderation and choosing one’s own adventure) and Brave (getting a boost from the EU’s DMA);And finally, some venture capital news that was a legit surprise.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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. Over the weekend, we dropped an interview with Roger Lee that is well worth your time, and here's our take on Reddit's IPO financials.Here's what we got into today:Crypto is taking flight, with bitcoin and ethereum notching big gains in recent days as the crypto winter fades to a fresh spring.Reddit dropped a new IPO filing, which includes a price range target of between $31 and $34 per share. That values the company as high as $6.4 billion.Musk intends to open-source Grok, the LLM that subscribers of X's most expensive tier have access to. The move comes after a recent debate regarding AI tech and how open it should be.Bobby Kotick wants to buy TikTok?Techstars' $80 million Advancing Cities Fund could be its first and last fund.In closing, Griffin Bank's $24 million Series A extension caught our eye, and we're reading Ron Miller's interview with Slack's new CEO.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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.

This is our interview show, where we sit down with a guest, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, Mary Ann interviewed Roger Lee, an entrepreneur who’s spent the better part of a decade building tools for employees and employers alike. Lee is an angel investor as well the creator of Layoffs.FYI and co-founder of Comprehensive and Human Interest.Roger joined us on the show last year in the wake of 2022’s tech layoffs, but this week we’re focusing on the business of shutting down and why investors are lining up to back startups in the space, including Roger.We also talked about:Just how many more companies shut down in 2023 compared to 2022 (spoiler alert, it was a lot!)How many more layoffs we saw last year compared to years priorThe types of companies winding down and laying offHow his work is tied to all of it and the role of AIEquity will be back on Monday for our weekly kick-off show, but don't forget to keep up with us in the meantime on X and Threads @EquityPod.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 hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are 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.