meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Recode Daily

Can TV take down the cult of the tech founder?

Recode Daily

Recode

Science, Technology, Society & Culture

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2022

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Dropout, Super Pumped, and WeCrashed try to break up our love affair with tech founders. They don’t totally succeed. Recode’s Rani Molla explains. Read Rani’s story: https://www.vox.com/recode/22955040/tech-tv-theranos-uber-wework-apple-hulu-showtime Today’s episode was produced by Taylor Maycan, engineered by Melissa Pons (Hemlock Creek Productions) and hosted by Adam Clark Estes. Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

If you were alive at any point in the 2000s, I'm going to guess that you probably have a memory set to Krunk Music.

0:06.5

I'm Rihanna Cruz, producer of Switched On Pop, and this week we're heading down to the South,

0:11.1

to talk about the party genre that might have went off the radio, but never left the clubs.

0:16.1

Krunk Music still has managed to carry an impact 20 years later, with songs like Get Low standing the test of time.

0:23.3

Check out Switched On Pop anywhere you get your podcasts, brought to you by Amp, Amazon's Live Radio app.

0:30.0

It's Rico Daley. I'm Adam Clark Estes. Hollywood's fascination with tech founders isn't exactly new.

0:44.0

You know, you really don't need a forensic team to get to the bottom of this. If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.

0:51.0

The social network debuted in 2010, and more than one actor has dawned to black turtle necking glasses to play Steve Jobs.

0:58.0

We've raised the bar, and if we want to stay there, we got to risk everything.

1:05.0

But with the streaming wars heating up and tech skepticism spiking, three new shows have dropped on three separate platforms.

1:12.0

The dropout came out on Hulu, we have Super Pumped, which is on Showtime, and then We crashed on Apple TV.

1:19.0

And they're not exactly presenting a flattering portrait of Silicon Valley culture.

1:24.0

Ronnie Mola is here to explain.

1:28.0

There are three shows about young-ish tech founders who founded these billion dollar startups some time around the 2010s,

1:37.0

and have since been kicked out of their companies and roundly dismissed or hated.

1:43.0

The dropout is about Theranos, the blood testing company founded by Elizabeth Holmes.

1:49.0

The youngest billionaire in the world.

1:52.0

Is that heady when you hear that?

1:55.0

You know, it's not what matters. What matters is how well we do in trying to make people's lives better.

2:03.0

They were going to change the world by making it so much easier for people to test their blood,

2:08.0

but they never had hardware that actually worked. So now she's been convicted of defrauding investors.

2:14.0

When asked if investors had lost money because she'd misled them, Holmes replied, of course not.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Recode, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Recode and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.