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Equity

Robinhood's hangover, YC's reduction and Uber's return to form

Equity

TechCrunch

Entrepreneurship, Business News, News, Business, Technology

4.2 • 372 Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann got together with Maggie and Grace this week for our weekly roundup show, and per usual, there was a lot to talk about, including the fact that there were even more topics than usual to pick from as the summer slowdown seems to be fading away.  What else did we get into? The following: To kick off our Deals of the Week, we discussed the fact that a startup which focuses on depression, suicidality and related mental health conditions is buying a company called KetaMD in an effort to extend its telehealth prowess and, in particular, to expand its tech-facilitated ketamine-based treatments. Don’t know what ketamine is? You’re not alone. From there, it was time to talk about a new $100 million fund, which boasts some high-profile LPs and partners, that is out to invest exclusively in Latino(a) startup founders. We then dug into the hows and whys of a fintech company that aims to get consumers to deduct everyday expenses directly from their paycheck – a concept that took us a bit to wrap our heads around. We then moved on to Robinhood and the news that the retail investment behemoth had laid off 23% of its staff – just 3 months after letting go of 9% of its workforce. The three of us had thoughts on CEO Vlad Tenev’s acceptance of responsibility for the layoffs, and of course, on just how much dang news has surrounded the company in the past 18 months or so. https://twitter.com/bayareawriter/status/1554598033756667905 Next up? We chatted about Y Combinator’s somewhat surprising decision to shrink its cohort by 40% – what that could mean for the early-stage venture scene. We also get into its increased check size and in-person return. So many variables! Only one experiment! Lastly, we riffed about Uber and how the company both reported positive free cash flow and yet was deeply unprofitable in the second quarter (thanks to Alex breaking that down for us).  And we had a blast to boot! See you next time! 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. Credits: Equity is 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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

0:18.5

My name is Alex and I'm joined by the crew. We are recording this live on Thursday on Twitter spaces and

0:23.0

probably somewhere else on the internet and guys we've made it Natasha hello

0:26.9

hi how are you I'm growing a beard so I am itchy what inspired the beard? I have to know.

0:33.0

My brother started to grow a beard and asked me if I'd ever tried and I said no.

0:37.0

And I look like a person who got lost in the woods.

0:40.0

I like it.

0:41.0

Snazzy.

0:42.0

Snazzy as hell. No, I like it. I like it. I like it. in the

0:45.0

would

0:50.0

would be snazzy as hell no I like it I like it gives you an edgy look Alex it makes you look more edgy

0:48.0

the squarrest person in the whole world finally looks edgy

0:52.0

Marianne how are you doing?

0:54.0

I am great.

0:56.0

I am really good.

0:57.0

Thank you, Alex.

0:58.0

I'm glad to hear that.

0:59.0

That is the most positive hello we've had in a while, so I'm proud of us. This is this is the summer impact. We're

1:04.7

feeling good but before we talk about what we're doing we have seen essentially a

1:09.0

return to form in the news cycle so we're feeling good which is good because

1:12.2

there's been a lot more going on.

1:13.7

Marianne, it feels like the summer lull has passed us.

...

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