TechEquity's Catherine Bracy On What Venture Capital is Doing to our Economy

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Venture capital is meant to infuse burgeoning companies with cash to grow, but instead it’s become a sector that is too obsessed with raking in short-term results and rapid growth at any cost. So argues Catherine Bracy in her new book, “World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy.” Bracy examines how the venture capital model has led to countless companies failing and has distorted industries from food delivery to housing. Bracy has advocated for making the tech industry more equitable, diverse and sustainable as founder and CEO of Oakland-based TechEquity. She joins us to talk about why she thinks venture capital is hurting the economy and how to fix it. Guests: Catherine Bracy, executive director and founder, TechEquity; author of "World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:34.2	From KQED.
0:47.3	Music From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:50.3	Over the last decade, the tech industry has been blasted by many people in the Bay Area and beyond.
0:57.1	Tech has been blamed for moving too fast and breaking too many things.
1:01.5	In a new book, author Catherine Bracey argues that the real problem lies upstream of the startups and software.
1:09.1	It lies in the financing model for tech businesses.
1:12.7	That is to say, it's venture capital that bears the responsibility for the rapaciousness
1:18.2	and carelessness of the tech companies. The book is World Eaters, how venture capital is
1:23.4	cannibalizing the economy. And Bracey joins us right after this news.
1:39.5	Welcome to Forum.
1:40.9	I'm Alexis Madrigal.
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