Alibaba's six-way split, Disney cuts its metaverse team, Substack's raise & more | E1708
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2023
⏱️ 88 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Producer Rachel joins Jason to break down the latest tech news. They cover AOC's arguments against banning TikTok (2:29), Alibaba's six-way split (18:43), Disney's metaverse cuts (28:17), Substack's equity crowdfunding (39:16), Lyft's precarious position, and more! (55:09) Then, Jason breaks down the case for shorting Coinbase. (1:12:14)
(0:00) Jason kicks off the show
(2:29) Reacting to AOC's arguments to not ban TikTok
(13:39) LMNT - Get a free sample pack with any purchase at http://drinklmnt.com/TWIST
(15:09) The CCP’s interest in TikTok
(18:43) Alibaba's six-way split
(26:49) Mercury - Banking built for startups. See more at https://mercury.com/twist
(28:17) Disney sunsetting its Metaverse division
(38:09) Crowdbotics - Get a free scoping session for your next big app idea at http://crowdbotics.com/twist
(39:16) Substack's equity crowdfunding
(55:09) Lyft's precarious position
(1:04:18) Twitter shutters legacy verification badges
(1:12:14) Laying out the Coinbase short argument
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody, we've got a great show for you today. |
| 0:02.1 | It's a jam pack. |
| 0:03.0 | It's a long one. |
| 0:03.6 | Producer Rachel joins me and we do a quick hit on AOC's first TikTok where she defends |
| 0:08.8 | TikTok. |
| 0:09.8 | And then speaking of China, we go into Alibaba is going to split into six business units. |
| 0:16.4 | Think about that. |
| 0:17.4 | That would be like breaking Amazon or Google into six business units. |
| 0:20.0 | What does that say about what's happening in China with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship |
| 0:25.8 | writ large? |
| 0:26.8 | We discuss the news that sub-stack is doing an equity crowdfunding of $2 million on |
| 0:32.6 | WeFunder. |
| 0:33.6 | Is it a good bet or not? |
| 0:34.6 | I go through their deal memo and I tell you if you should invest or not, but it's not |
| 0:37.7 | investment advice. |
| 0:38.7 | I just tell you how I would look at their round and why are they doing this now and how |
| 0:42.7 | much money are they making? |
| 0:43.7 | And is it a good business or not? |
| 0:45.1 | We basically break down the business. |
| 0:46.3 | It's a great product, but is it a good business? |
| 0:48.4 | And then we dive in to the announcement that Lyft has had a bloodletting that top two executives |
| 0:54.1 | are gone, founders are done, and they've brought in a new CEO from the board. |
... |
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