Today on Equity, we're chatting with EZPR founder and CEO Ed Zitron about the decline of traditional online services, why businesses should shift from ‘founder mode’ to ‘customer mode,’ and the opportunities for startups in a changing market, with a look at the future of generative AI companies like OpenAI.

Equity's discussing the latest from inauguration week, including how the new administration is engaging with startups, TikTok’s comeback, a $100B project from OpenAI and others, the Divvy Homes acquisition fallout, and the IPO market for 2025.

We're breaking down 2024’s venture capital landscape from AI’s $100B funding boom to the challenges facing startups, and what’s next for the IPO market.

Today on Equity, we're diving into this week’s biggest stories, including where TikTok's users are headed next and Colossal Biosciences’ colossal raise.

Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Eugen Rochko, the CEO of Mastodon, to explore Meta's recent and controversial content moderation policy update. They dive into what these changes mean for users and how decentralized social media platforms like Mastodon could offer a viable alternative to mainstream giants like Meta.

Equity is back with its first tech news roundup of 2025, perfectly timed with this year's CES.

Kirsten Korosec caught up with Zoox co-founder and CEO Jesse Levinson about robotaxis, Tesla, and the future landscape of AI on wheels.

Instead of our usual Friday news rundown, we're bringing you a conversation between TechCrunch Editor in Chief and General Manager Connie Loizos and Robinhood CEO and co-founder, Vlad Tenev.

Happy new year, Equity listeners! Today, we're bringing you a conversation between TechCrunch senior reporter Max Zeff and Bluesky CEO Jay Graber.

From AI advancements and CrowdStrike's crash to WordPress drama and which startups VCs have their eyes on next, Equity is saying goodbye to 2024 with a look back at the year's biggest stories in tech.

Today on Equity, Dominic Midori-Davis is sitting down with Sara and Erin Foster along with their advisor at Oversubscribed Ventures, Phil Schwarz.

Happy Friday the 13th! Today on Equity, we're unpacking the week's news from Lumen Orbit, Cruise and Freysa.ai with a deeper dive into social media startups amid the looming TikTok ban and new accelerators for African startups.

With Elon Musk in charge of government efficiency, it's worth taking a closer look at whether business principles can be applied to government. Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan is discussing the intersection of tech, business and politics with Columbia Business School Professor Michael Morris.

Hosts Margaux MacColl, Devin Coldewey and Anthony Ha are back for another Friday news roundup with deals of the week from /dev/agents, ServiceTitan and Yurts, plus a deeper dive into which Founders Fund VCs are stepping back and strange AI.

How can founders scale frontier tech? Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan is finding out with Tom Biegala and Ben Hemani, the co-founders of early-stage venture firm, Bison.

AI startups are everywhere, but there can't be any innovation without proper computing power. This week, Equity is bringing you an episode of our sister show, Found. Found hosts Becca and Dom sat down with Gavin Uberti, co-founder and CEO of Etched, an AI chip startup focusing on developing specialized chips. Gavin shares the bold bet his startup is making on transformer models for AI chips, aiming to take on industry giant Nvidia. They discuss how Etched is developing specialized chips that they claim will be an order of magnitude faster than competitors, and Uberti shares his insights on the future of AI hardware as models continue to rapidly scale up in size and capability.

At this year's TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, President and CEO of the Aerospace Corporation Steve Isakowitz and Agency Chief Technologist at NASA A.C. Charanya Charania took the stage to discuss a literal moonshot: how to build a thriving lunar ecosystem. Today, we’re taking you behind the scenes of TechCrunch Disrupt once again, this time with Devin Coldewey at the helm. For those keeping track, Devin’s kept the Equity crew up to date on space startups over the past few months, including Starfish Space’s $29 million round and, more recently, SpaceX’s second commercial deal for the Starship lunar lander with Lunar Outpost. Listen to the full conversation to hear Devin and Steve Isakowitz discuss: - What the path ahead looks like for space startups - The shift away from government-dominated space programs to a more commercial landscape - And what’s in store for Aerospace Corporation in 2025. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate, and we’ll be back on Friday for a special episode from our sister podcast, Found.

Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl dig into the week’s tech and startup news, including what a new scaling method could mean for AI startups if it works and for chip providers if it fails. Listen to the full episode to hear about: - The DOJ’s latest proposal for Google: it should divest its Chrome browser. While we wait for a break in the monopoly case and a better search alternative to arise, the Equity crew thinks that Wiz might’ve been on to something when they said no to Alphabet. - Dual-use drone startup Tekever’s $74 million raise and its part in the European defense tech boom - How Converge Bio plans to build an ’everything store’ for biotech LLMs. While on the subject of LLMs, Kirsten took us deeper into ServiceTitan’s S-1, including its boilerplate warning about AI. - Network states 2.0. Margaux had the latest on Praxis’s unusual $525 million raise and the regions its founder is eyeing for a new city.

Late last week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler said that he was “proud to serve” the agency, which some are taking as a hint at an upcoming resignation. Gensler has faced heavy criticism for his crackdown on crypto, including a recent lawsuit from 18 states - and is likely to be replaced under President-Elect Donald Trump who has vowed to oust Gensler. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is meeting with Brian Armstrong, the CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, to discuss potential personnel appointments. Today on Equity, we're bringing you an interview between Rebecca Bellan and co-founder and CSO of blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, Jonathan Levin. The pair caught up at our Strictly VC event in New York shortly before the Gary Gensler news dropped to discuss the imminent change for crypto in the wake of the US election, trends in crypto crime, Chainalysis’s choice to run its operations in the US, and how to build trust in crypto.

Over the last few years, VC Ben Horowitz has donated at least $7.6 million to fund police department purchases - including the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s new drones from a16z-backed Skydio. Skydio is not the first of a16z’s portfolio companies to benefit from these donations, either. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl dug into the implications of Horowitz’s approach and why others in the VC world should maybe hold off on praising the controversial move. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Elon Musk’s new role in the Department of Government Efficiency. The crew wondered how much change Musk and co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy will actually be able to enact. And yes, DOGE jokes were made. Klarna’s plans for a U.S. IPO. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll have to wait for 2025 before we get another IPO, but Margaux has a theory about what might be behind the slowdown. Vecna Robotics’ $14.5 million raise and the CEO choice that caught Kirsten’s attention. Starfish Space’s latest round and impressive batch of contracts for its full-size Otter spacecraft. Who’s joining the unsolicited bidding war over Cursor-maker Anysphere.

Today on Equity, TechCrunch Editor Julie Bort is sitting down with Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce and one of the tech industry’s biggest hype men, about his latest work with Time Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, and why he thinks AI agents are the next big thing for enterprise software. Listen to the full episode to hear about: The impact of AI on customer experience The application of AI agents in the healthcare space - and what it could mean for data privacy Marc's thoughts on Salesforce competitor Microsoft's Copilot The range of gadgets that have piqued Benioff’s interest lately As always, Equity will be back on Friday with our news round-up!

A tech regulation shakeup is on the way with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in January. Trump has made it clear that he plans to dismantle Biden’s AI policies on "day one," aligning himself with those who’ve pushed back against regulation. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey and Margaux MacColl  dove into what Trump’s win could mean for AI policy and innovation moving forward. While AI is always on the mind these days, there was so much more startup and venture news for the Equity crew to get into this week. Listen to the full episode to hear about: OpenAI’s acquisition of Chat.com, the domain previously acquired by HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah for a whopping $15.5 million. We’re not sure if this signals a brand change for the AI startup, but users’ trips to ChatGPT just got three letters shorter. DeepRoute’s $100 million raise and the startup’s race to get its automated systems out before Tesla FSD is available in China. Biotech startup Archon’s $20 million effort to power up drug development with its ‘antibody cages’. Of course, we couldn’t talk about the news without a biochemistry lesson from Devin where we learned a new scientific term: thingies. Google’s new AI-focused data center and collaboration with the Saudi Public Investment fund. The move had the team thinking more about tech’s climate commitments at large, and who is walking back their pledges in favor of AI. The election bidding boom - from Polymarket to Kalshi and a potential $450 million payout.

Today on Equity, we’re taking you backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt. Rebecca Bellan caught up with Rebecca Gevalt, Managing Partner at Dcode Capital following their onstage discussion about the boom in national interest startups. Also on the panel was Topher Haddad, CEO of satellite imagery startup Albedo, and Kai Klepfer, CEO of biometric gun startup Biofire. Tune in to hear Bellan and Gevalt dive deeper into how startups can get a foot in the door of government contracts. Check out the full onstage conversation on TechCrunch.com, and Equity will be back on Friday!