TechCrunch |
- Messaging app JusTalk is spilling millions of unencrypted messages
- T-Mobile will pay out $350M to customers in data breach settlement
- World Fund joins $128M bet that quantum can deliver climate breakthroughs
- Disney+ delivers first looks of new Spider-Man, X-Men, Groot and Marvel Zombies animated series
- Daily Crunch: ‘I’ve gotten beat’ on my ‘Shark Tank’ bets, Mark Cuban admits
- Disney+ US goes R-rated with ‘Deadpool,’ ‘Deadpool 2’ and ‘Logan’
- What does the SEC’s warning shot at crypto mean?
- Looking for an investment from a CVC? Take these 3 tips to the negotiation table
- Instacart’s co-founder Apoorva Mehta checks out
- SAP top exec retires as Q2 2022 earnings come out
- Snap stock is getting obliterated
- Pink Sauce went viral on TikTok. But then it exploded (literally).
- How to check for founder-investor alignment before you start fundraising
- TechCrunch+ roundup: Early-stage fundraising revisited, fractional hiring, HR tech boom
- VW Group CEO Herbert Diess is out
- Mark Cuban hasn’t profited from his ‘Shark Tank’ investments
- Can Alto succeed at employee-driven ride-hail?
- Looks like (some) neobanks will be OK after all
- Check out the founder-focused sessions happening at TechCrunch Disrupt
- TechCrunch Podcast Weekly Roundup: Crypto winters, Robots, and when will India make up its mind about Crypto
| Messaging app JusTalk is spilling millions of unencrypted messages Posted: 22 Jul 2022 05:00 PM PDT Popular video calling and messaging app JusTalk claims to be both secure and encrypted. But a security lapse has proven the app to be neither secure nor encrypted after a huge cache of users’ unencrypted private messages was found online. The messaging app is widely used across Asia and has a booming international audience with 20 million users globally. Google Play lists JusTalk Kids, billed as its child-friendly and compatible version of its messaging app, as having more than 1 million Android downloads. JusTalk says both its apps are end-to-end encrypted — where only the people in the conversation can read its messages — and boasts on its website that “only you and the person you communicate with can see, read or listen to them: Even the JusTalk team won’t access your data!” But a review of the huge cache of internal data, seen by TechCrunch, proves those claims are not true. The data includes millions of JusTalk user messages, along with the precise date and time they were sent and the phone numbers of both the sender and recipient. The data also contained records of calls that were placed using the app. Security researcher Anurag Sen found the data this week and asked TechCrunch for help in reporting it to the company. Juphoon, the China-based cloud company behind the messaging app said it spun out the service in 2016 and is now owned and operated by Ningbo Jus, a company that appears to share the same office as listed on Juphoon’s website. But despite multiple efforts to reach JusTalk’s founder Leo Lv and other executives, our emails were not acknowledged or returned, and the company has shown no attempt to remediate the spill. A text message to Lv’s phone was marked as delivered but not read. Because each message recorded in the data contained every phone number in the same chat, it was possible to follow entire conversations, including from children who were using the JusTalk Kids app to chat with their parents. The internal data also included the granular locations of thousands of users collected from users’ phones, with large clusters of users in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and mainland China. According to Sen, the data also contained records from a third app, JusTalk 2nd Phone Number, which allows users to generate virtual, ephemeral phone numbers to use instead of giving out their private cell phone number. A review of some of these records reveal both the user’s cell phone number as well as every ephemeral phone number they generated. We’re not disclosing where or how the data is obtainable, but are weighing in favor of public disclosure after we found evidence that Sen was not alone in discovering the data. This is the latest in a spate of data spills in China. Earlier this month a huge database of some 1 billion Chinese residents was siphoned from a Shanghai police database stored in Alibaba's cloud and portions of the data were published online. Beijing has yet to comment publicly on the leak, but references to the breach on social media have been widely censored. |
| T-Mobile will pay out $350M to customers in data breach settlement Posted: 22 Jul 2022 04:33 PM PDT If you were one of the nearly 77 million people affected by last year’s T-Mobile breach, you may have a few bucks coming your way. The company has just announced the terms of a settlement in a consolidated class action lawsuit, and it isn’t cheap: $350 million to be split up by customers (and lawyers), plus $150 million “for data security and related technology.” Let this be a lesson to all companies: If you stay ready, you don’t have to spend $150 million to get ready! The breach apparently occurred sometime early last year, after which collections of T-Mobile customer data were put up for sale on various criminal forums. Estimates of how many people were affected varied, with T-Mobile claiming less than a million had accounts and PINs fully exposed (still not great), and somewhere between 40 and 100 million users total with some data taken. The settlement, described in an SEC filing and court filing (PDF) first spotted by Geekwire, doesn’t appear to have separate terms for people affected differently by the hack — but that might have been handled separately for all we know. For now, the class defined by the settlement document is “the approximately 76.6 million U.S. residents identified by T-Mobile whose information was compromised in the Data Breach,” with a little extra legalese for Californians, where class actions are handled slightly differently. As is common in these giant lawsuits, lawyers take a huge bite and then the company must alert the class members they’re owed money, so you can expect a postcard if you were a T-Mobile customer in August of 2021 (in the interest of full disclosure, I was). Then the money gets split up, depending on how many people respond and how much the lawyers take. The final settlement terms could be approved as early as December. Chances are you won’t even be able to cover a single monthly mobile bill with what you get, but these days a $9 check might be the difference between “dinner” and “no dinner” for quite a few people, so let’s not mock these small sums — except that it’s kind of insulting to have five serious breaches in as many years and all customers get is enough to order off the value menu. The company, which merged with Sprint just before the breach, said in its SEC filing that it will be dedicating $150 million to improving its security, so maybe it’s taking things seriously now. Guess we’ll find out soon. |
| World Fund joins $128M bet that quantum can deliver climate breakthroughs Posted: 22 Jul 2022 03:59 PM PDT World Fund, a newcomer in climate-VC land, is taking the lead in a $128 million round for IQM, with hopes the Finnish quantum computing company will one day deliver carbon cuts by the megatonne. Quantum computing trades the bits of conventional computers for quantum bits, and in theory, quantum machines may be better suited for solving some highly complex problems in fields like chemistry and machine learning. IQM argues its tech could also move the needle on climate, but there is cause to be skeptical of the industry on the whole; we’ve seen a lot of hype around quantum computing startups, and yet the field mostly remains stuck in labs today. Still, IQM projects its quantum computers will help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in as soon as the next three to five years “for some of the early use-cases.” The company says it is already “working on novel approaches to develop better battery solutions with a leading car manufacturer,” and it plans to spend its new funds on further research in battery tech, quantum chemistry and other areas. IQM cautioned in an email to TechCrunch that “scientific breakthroughs don't follow a set timeline.” The idea of applying quantum tech to climate change mitigation apparently isn’t all that far-fetched. Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich said in an email to TechCrunch that he “[believes] quantum computing can help with climate change, specifically with the carbon capture challenge (carbon fixation).” Microsoft’s research includes digging into how quantum computing can uncover “more efficient” ways to convert carbon dioxide into other chemical compounds. World Fund and IQM’s other investors have also implicitly endorsed the idea via their checkbooks. In a statement, the German VC said it exclusively backs tech with the potential to remove “100 million tonnes” — that is, 100 megatonnes — “of carbon from the atmosphere yearly by 2040.” Other investors in the latest round include the EU’s European Innovation Council and Tencent. The deal brings IQM’s post-money valuation near the $1 billion mark, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Some quantum computing companies have faced accusations of exaggerating their progress. Maryland-based IonQ has talked up its advances in quantum computing, but activist investor Scorpion Capital recently accused the company of fraud, calling its tech a “useless toy that can't even add 1+1.” IonQ’s founders pushed back on the accusations, saying they were “amused at the extreme level of ignorance behind this attack.” In a related field, former staffers at British quantum encryption company Arqit reportedly questioned the usefulness and maturity of its quantum tech. |
| Disney+ delivers first looks of new Spider-Man, X-Men, Groot and Marvel Zombies animated series Posted: 22 Jul 2022 03:13 PM PDT Disney+ made its debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 (SDCC) and gave Marvel fans a whole bunch of shows to look forward to. This marked Marvel Studios' first appearance at the event in three years, and boy did they deliver. Marvel Studios officially revealed the first looks for all the new original animated series coming to Disney+ on Twitter. "Spider-Man: Freshman Year" is set to premiere in 2024, "X-Men '97" will arrive in the fall of 2023, season two of "What If…?" gets released in early 2023, among other announcements like "Marvel Zombies" and the very adorable "I Am Groot" trailer. Disney+’s animation panel at SDCC highlights the streamer’s dedication to animated original series that many subscribers love as well as its commitment to continuing the Marvel franchise. The studio shared new information about "Spider-Man: Freshman Year,” such as the second season being called "Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.” There were also reports that the prequel series will have an appearance from Charlie Cox, who plays Daredevil. This makes sense as (spoiler, sorry) the character Matt Murdock was shown in a post-credit scene in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Talk of recognizable villains appearing in the new Spider-Man series was also circling about, such as Dr. Octavius, Chameleon, Speed Demon, Scorpion, Butane the Pyromaniac, Harry Osborn, and Amadeus Cho. Last year, "What If…?" premiered an episode titled “What If…Zombies?,” introducing the zombie concept to the Marvel Cinema Universe. The animated original series "Marvel Zombies" is now official and will explore the undead side of the superheroes. It will premiere exclusively on Disney+. No release date has been announced. Originally released in 1992, “X-Men: The Animated Series” had 76 episodes before it was canceled in 1997. This new version called “X-Men ’97” promises to be a return of the superhero mutants that is sure to fill the hearts of many 90s kids who grew up with the show. The company then revealed the trailer for "I Am Groot," the collection of five original shorts streaming on August 10. This will be the only “Guardians of the Galaxy” spinoff set to premiere in 2022. Disney+ announced yesterday that “Deadpool," "Deadpool 2," and "Logan" were appearing on the platform. This may have parents running to fix their parental control settings due to the R-ratings while others can now have a Wade Wilson and Wolverine marathon. Unrelated to Marvel, Disney+ also released a short teaser for "National Treasure: Edge of History," which sadly had no sign of Nicolas Cage but will introduce a new character Jess, played by Lisette Olivera. The show got its own panel at Comic-Con as well. |
| Daily Crunch: ‘I’ve gotten beat’ on my ‘Shark Tank’ bets, Mark Cuban admits Posted: 22 Jul 2022 03:05 PM PDT To get a roundup of TechCrunch's biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Fri-yay! Grab your calendar and mark November 17, 2022, on it, and then snag yourself an airline ticket to Miami, Florida. That's right, TC Sessions continues, with a Crypto special event. It's our first dedicated crypto event, so come along, get your NFTs, blockchains, and web3 on. Get yer tickets today and save a couple of hundred bucks! — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3
Startups and VC"Shark Tank," America's favorite television show, masquerading as “this is how investing works,” made Mark Cuban a household name. It may come as a surprise, then, that overall, Cuban hasn't made a profit off his Shark Tank portfolio, Amanda reports. Ride-hailing services may be getting a quality upgrade: "We needed to employ our drivers so that we could not only select and vet, but importantly, train and performance-manage them to drive a consistent high-quality experience for our passengers," Alto's founder told Rebecca. Oh, and Haje got very excited about interviewing the Sarcos Robotics and Boston Dynamic CEOs about how to take robots from the lab into the real world. More? More!
How to check for founder-investor alignment before you start fundraising Image Credits: Joseph Giacomin (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Everyone wants to get their company off the ground, which is why it’s critical to find an investor who shares your values and perspective. It’s particularly tempting to accept the first offer that comes, but “choosing the right partner for the right stage of your business can make the difference between building a billion-dollar company and losing control.” Partners Evan Kipperman, Paul Hughes and Len Gray at law firm Wiggin and Dana shared a post with TC+ that explores the finer points of working with institutional investors, angels, friends and family and capitalists of other stripes. “As funding gets harder to come by, your risk tolerance may change, but your process for evaluating investors should not.” (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Big Tech Inc.It was apparently a day of people announcing they are leaving companies. First, Kirsten reports about VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who is leaving after four years at the helm. Porsche boss Oliver Blume was appointed by the board to take Diess's place starting September 1. The move may have been foreshadowed — Kirsten writes that Diess "has survived a number of confrontations and power struggles with the board and unions over the past two years." Next, just as SAP announced its second-quarter earnings, TechCrunch learned that DJ Paoni, the company's president of SAP North America, was leaving after 26 years. Natasha M and Ron have more. Natasha M was also all over a late-breaking item about Apoorva Mehta, Instacart’s executive chairman, who announced via Twitter that once the company goes public, he will step down from the board. Now over to some further second-quarter earnings chat. Snapchat reported revenue was up, but missed analyst expectations and declined to forecast future financial performance, Aisha reports. Later in the day, Lucas writes that Snap’s stock was not doing so well as a result. Meanwhile, Twitter reported a quarterly sales drop and also revealed it spent $33 million trying to close the Elon Musk acquisition, Paul writes. Even more:
As you know from reading above, yesterday was TC Sessions: Robotics, and so you don't miss out, here are some highlights from Brian and Devin: |
| Disney+ US goes R-rated with ‘Deadpool,’ ‘Deadpool 2’ and ‘Logan’ Posted: 22 Jul 2022 01:01 PM PDT Disney+ strays farther from its family-friendly image with the addition of "Deadpool," "Deadpool 2" and "Logan" arriving to the streaming service today, July 22. Alongside Disney’s announcement yesterday, the company invited users to revisit their parental control settings due to the sexual and violent nature of these films. While the films have previously been available on Disney+ outside the U.S., these three titles are sure to upset parents in the U.S. who subscribed to the family-friendly service so their children could enjoy, well, family-friendly content.
"Deadpool" is arguably the most sexually inappropriate movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rated R for strong language, violence, sexual content and graphic nudity. "Deadpool 2" has violence, strong language and "brief drug material." So, you can expect a plethora of f-bombs and inappropriate jokes. For instance, when Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) had baby-sized phalanges, he said, "I bet it feels huge in this hand." Meanwhile, "Logan" has brief nudity as well as the typical brutal violence that Wolverine brings. The very R-rated superhero movies join the TV-MA-rated series "Daredevil," "Jessica Jones," "Luke Cage," "Iron Fist, "The Punisher" and "The Defenders," which were added to the service in March. That same month, Disney+ updated its parental controls in order to welcome more mature titles without upsetting too many parents. There was a false alarm in April when it was suspected Disney+ would be getting its first R-rated movie, "Kiss of the Dragon," after it was mistakenly added to its sizzle reel on YouTube. "Kiss of the Dragon" was intended for Disney+ Canada. Also, adult-focused films "Hot Shots" and "Hot Shots: Part Deux" were removed from the platform only a couple of days after Disney+ added them.
Disney's Star brand in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other markets have mature titles such as "Alien," "Terminator," "Die Hard," "Kingsman," "Atlanta," and more, which the company announced in 2020. To celebrate the arrival of "Deadpool" and "Deadpool 2" on Disney+, fans at San Diego Comic-Con can get a free mini chimichanga, available at Seaport Village on July 22 and July 23. "Deadpool 3" is currently in pre-production. |
| What does the SEC’s warning shot at crypto mean? Posted: 22 Jul 2022 01:00 PM PDT Yesterday was a big day for the crypto industry. A former Coinbase product manager was arrested alongside his brother and a friend, and charged with running a cryptocurrency insider trading scheme by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). At the same time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a separate document on the case, designating a number of the assets traded by the group as cryptocurrency securities, a classification that raised eyebrows. “I think it's odd the SEC would sue three individuals for violating securities law, arguing that at least nine of the 25 digital assets they bought and sold as part of the alleged scheme qualify as securities, but not pursue the exchange that listed these digital assets,” Hailey Lennon, partner at law firm Anderson Kill, told TechCrunch.
“The truth is, if the Feds wanted this industry regulated — it would be.” Michael Fasanello, chief compliance officer, LVL The classification of some crypto assets as securities may have major implications for the digital asset industry, which has largely benefited from years of little to no regulatory oversight. While crypto has been somewhat free from regulation due to its de novo products, it is seeing issues similar to what other financial markets have seen. Insider trading has been around for long before cryptocurrency, Michael Fasanello, chief compliance officer at LVL, told TechCrunch. “The crime has stayed the same, it's just the modality that's different.” As the industry worries over what lies ahead, lawyers and others in crypto space shared their thoughts with TechCrunch on what the classification of some crypto products as securities could mean for the industry. |
| Looking for an investment from a CVC? Take these 3 tips to the negotiation table Posted: 22 Jul 2022 12:00 PM PDT As venture capital flows continue to fluctuate, founders have to double down on the terms they agree on. While it can be tempting to overlook certain terms for the sake of closing a deal, founders should remember that nearly everything in a deal is negotiable. A lot of entrepreneurs tend to focus only on the company’s valuation during talks, but often, other clauses in the contract can be far more impactful. The problem is that founders in the early stages of their business often don’t want to hire lawyers because of the cost involved, so they don’t have the legal knowledge or experience to negotiate the best possible deal. But when you’re dealing with corporate venture capital (CVC), where firms have seasoned, dedicated legal teams, founders need to enter negotiations with an understanding of the legal dynamics. Doing so will enable them to be creative with their requests and implement more effective terms for both sides. Drawing from my legal expertise as head of Wayra X, Telefónica’s investment vehicle and conversations with founders at the negotiation table, this is my advice for dealing with CVCs. CVCs understand startup negotiations, too
Especially at the moment, you should feel that you can still challenge investors’ terms and express your preferences. It may seem like you’re facing off against Goliath when trying to negotiate with CVCs, but the size and experience of their legal teams doesn’t give them an automatic advantage. Yes, CVCs are more used to preparing M&A and high-level contracts, but they should be able to change how they think when working with startups. That means being able to work efficiently with a smaller team, write contracts in plain language and clearly break down requirements before anything is signed. CVCs also shouldn’t go against the grain of the wider investment world; their size doesn’t allow them to operate outside of standard processes. So, if they present terms that would seem out of place in a traditional investor contract, founders can definitely call them out. Likewise, if a CVC wants to link the investment through a commercial deal, you can refuse, especially if there’s a possible conflict of interest. |
| Instacart’s co-founder Apoorva Mehta checks out Posted: 22 Jul 2022 11:53 AM PDT A year ago, Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta left his role as chief executive of the grocery delivery unicorn and took on an executive chairman position. Now, as the company he started nearly a decade ago prepares to IPO, Mehta says that he will be stepping down as executive chairman and transitioning off the board of directors once the company goes public. "Since I transitioned from CEO to Executive Chairman a year ago, I realized that I want to pursue a new mission and I want to do it with the same singular focus that I had while building Instacart," Mehta wrote on Twitter. "Stepping off the board will allow me to do just that." Instacart confirmed the news in a press release and said that Fidji Simo, a former Facebook executive who took over as CEO of Instacart when Mehta departed the role, will be the future executive chairman of the board. Simo quote tweeted Mehta's announcement and thanked him "for all he has done for Instacart over the last decade." In a press release, she said that "as CEO and future Chair, I look forward to working alongside our retail partners to shape the next decade of grocery's evolution." Instacart says its board of directors includes "Meredith Kopit Levien, President and Chief Executive Officer of The New York Times Company; Lily Sarafan, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of TheKey; Barry McCarthy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peloton; Daniel Sundheim, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of D1 Capital Partners; Frank Slootman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Snowflake; Michael Moritz, Managing Member of Sequoia Capital; and Jeff Jordan, General Partner of Andreessen Horowitz." Founders often transition to executive chairman roles as their companies grow, pivot or require new leadership as the business shifts from a private startup to a public company. Think of the transition as going from being involved with day-to-day decisions to overseeing broader strategy, from time to time. Mehta's plan to leave an already distant role may mean competitive dynamics are afoot between Instacart and his "new mission" that he alluded to. Instacart did not address questions related to competitive dynamic at play. Mehta’s departure could also just be a clean break after rising tensions between him and the board that he once appointed. Instacart is clearly having an executive reshuffling of sorts. Prior CTO Mark Schaaf is leaving the company, TechCrunch reported. Additionally, the U.S. grocery-delivery giant recently promoted Daniel Danker and Laura Jones, vice presidents of product and marketing, to chief product officer and chief marketing officer, respectively. Instacart also promoted its vice president of engineering, Varouj Chitilian, to the CTO role. |
| SAP top exec retires as Q2 2022 earnings come out Posted: 22 Jul 2022 11:44 AM PDT As Q2 earnings send enterprise giant SAP's stock down, President of SAP North America DJ Paoni is leaving the enterprise company, TechCrunch has learned from sources. SAP confirmed the news, saying that Paoni is retiring from the company after 26 years. "We truly believe the momentum we're seeing in North America can be attributed to strong leadership, so the search for his successor is underway," the company said. "An announcement will be made when confirmed. We thank DJ for his incredible contributions and wish him the best in this next chapter." As head of U.S. Sales Paoni had a prominent role in the company, running strategy and day to day operations for the region, SAP's largest market. In many instances, he also acted as its public face in the U.S. As an example, he spoke about the importance of employee mental health during the pandemic in a 2021 event put on by The Washington Post. While there has always been chatter about tension between SAP's American and German headquarters, Constellation Research analyst Holger Muller says that he doesn't necessarily see this coming into play here. "There is always the rumor of tensions between the German and U.S. cultures when an executive leaves from the U.S. And while cultural challenges are common at global companies, they are not more prominent at SAP than other technology vendors," he said. He added that it will be intriguing to see who SAP chooses as Paoni's successor. "It will be interesting to see who will succeed Paoni, a 26-year veteran of SAP. We may see the generational change that has happened at the board level now happening in the SAP regions." Executive turnover is actually not unusual at the company. Former CEO Bill McDermott stepped down in 2019 after 17 years with the organization and became CEO at ServiceNow not long after. The company replaced McDermott with a co-CEO setup that included Christian Klein based in German and Jennifer Morgan in the U.S. After six months, Morgan stepped down. More recently Rob Enslin left SAP after a 27 year run to join Google Cloud, and later moved to be CEO of UiPath. Paoni's departure was learned of yesterday, the same day that SAP announced Q2 2022 earnings. Per CNBC, the company reported overall revenue growth of 13%, with cloud revenue specifically growing 34%. However, the company did trim its profit expectations, a pullback attributed to the war in Ukraine. Currently, SAP shares are down 38% from its 52-week high, but is up 3.71% from yesterday's closing price. |
| Snap stock is getting obliterated Posted: 22 Jul 2022 11:41 AM PDT Investors in social media company Snap are reeling this afternoon as the stock has endured a bit of a meltdown following its release of Q2 earnings yesterday. The stock price is down nearly 40% for the day, at the time of writing, as investors rejigger their expectations for the future performance of the stock. After closing just below $16.50 yesterday, their stock is now hovering below $10. The stock has dropped nearly 90% from its all-time high of $83.34 in September of last year, erasing tens of billions in market cap value and falling harder than embattled, volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. How did Snap manage to spook investors so severely? As we reported yesterday, the company not only missed revenue forecasts but declined to give guidance on future quarters due to "uncertainties related to the operating environment." Snap was riding high last year, enjoying an earnings multiple that many analysts viewed as unsustainable, but others saw as a signal of high expectations for the company relative to its competitors. Plenty of tech stocks have taken massive stock price haircuts amid a wider selloff in tech stocks, but Snap has now fallen much deeper percentage-wise than its fellow social media companies including Twitter and Meta. |
| Pink Sauce went viral on TikTok. But then it exploded (literally). Posted: 22 Jul 2022 11:34 AM PDT Over the last month, a chef in Miami has been taking over TikTok with her signature product: Pink Sauce. Carly Pii, who uses the handle @chef.pii, posted a series of videos promoting her homemade condiment, drizzling egregious pools of deep magenta dressing atop gyros, fried chicken, french fries and tacos. Notoriously close-lipped about what her sauce even tastes like, Pii spun the biggest internet mystery since cinnamon toast shrimp guy, earning herself internet fame (or infamy, depending on how you look at it). Before Pink Sauce, Pii had fewer than 1,000 followers on TikTok, but now she’s racked up more than 80,000 followers and 3 million likes. For anyone peddling a product on TikTok, going viral might seem like the dream — but for this TikToker, it’s become more of a nightmare. “We didn’t get the opportunity like other small businesses to go through trial and error, to learn through our mistakes and recover from them,” Pii said in a live video last night, streaming on her TikTok and YouTube. “We didn’t have that opportunity because we blew up so fast. We went viral so fast.” A recipe for disaster“What would you do if y’all was in my shoes?” Pii said in her live video. “Would you just crawl in the corner and hide?” A single mom with two children, Pii says she has been working as a private chef for four years. Before TikTok, she posted dozens of YouTube videos between 2018 and 2020, which ranged from mukbang videos to weight loss vlogs, in which she followed fad diets with dubious nutritional backing. The pink sauce debacle began about a month ago, when Pii shared her homemade, vibrant pink concoction on her small TikTok account. As the chef swiftly gained millions of views on the platform, far outpacing her years-old YouTube channel, she made the decision to bottle and sell Pink Sauce for $20 a bottle. Pricing aside, her new followers noticed that some key details were missing: what does it taste like, what is it made out of, and why is it pink? She even touted its supposed health benefits without revealing the ingredients. “Honestly, it has its own taste,” Pii said on TikTok. “If you want to taste it, buy it.” The mystery has enraptured TikTokers, with the #pinksauce hashtag racking up over 80 million views. Many TikTokers wanted to root for Pii and watch a Black female creator succeed — but the roll-out of the sauce was so chaotic that it became hard for her fast-growing audience to give her the benefit of the doubt. As she prepared to put Pink Sauce up for sale on her website, she still wouldn’t reveal the source of its colorful hue — and to make matters stranger, viewers noticed that in each video she posted, the shade and consistency of the sauce seemed to change.  Image Credits: @chef.pii on TikTok “The color didn’t change, just the lighting,” she said in another TikTok. She later elaborated in her live video that the brighter pink sauce from her earlier videos was a prototype, not the product she was mailing out (make of that what you will). When Pii finally revealed the ingredients of her pink sauce before putting it up for sale, we were left with even more questions than answers. According to a graphic on her website, the sauce got its pink coloring from dragonfruit, also known as pitaya, which grows naturally with a deep magenta pigment. Though the fruit has a mild taste, some testers described the sauce as a sweet ranch, which makes sense, given the rest of the ingredients on her graphic: sunflower seed oil, honey, chili and garlic. But then we get to the nutrition label. TikTokers pointed out that the nutrition facts simply don’t add up — if there were 444 one-tablespoon servings in the bottle at 90 calories each, then there would be nearly 40,000 calories in the bottle, which doesn’t make mathematical sense. "Our nutrition fact label had an error in it and now they're trying to carry it along and say the nutrition is falsified because there's a typo," Pii told the Daily Dot. "No one will receive a bottle that has the messed up label. We had to redo everything pretty much. But business is business."  Image Credits: The Pink Sauce (opens in a new window) But the serving size snafu wasn’t the only issue at play. Aside from the misspelling of “vinegar,” the nutrition label says that the product — which is sold unrefrigerated with no instructions on how to store it — contains milk. Once again, she didn’t clarify until making her live video that she is apparently using dried milk and pitaya, which are shelf-stable. The most dramatic moment in the story of Pink Sauce came after the first shipments of were delivered about two weeks ago in packaging that looks like a plastic bag. Sure enough, the pink sauce exploded in transit, creating a stinky mess.
Chef Pii acknowledged the damaged packages earlier this week and said that only 50 customers received the poorly packaged items. She said she is sending any affected customer who reaches out to her a new sauce, and now, shipments are being delivered in boxes (which, of course, are bright pink). The tricky territory of creator food businessesAfter exploding packages, faulty nutrition labels and general confusion about what people are even eating, Chef Pii is today’s “main character” of the internet, which is usually not a good thing. “This is a small business that is just moving really, really fast,” Chef Pii said in an apology on TikTok. Going viral on TikTok is so normalized now that Pink Sauce’s temporary cultural ubiquity isn’t what makes it interesting. But this very public breakdown of a creator-run attempt at a food business reflects the larger struggles of both food startups and creator products alike. At a certain point, the narrative of the pink sauce spun out beyond what Pii could control. A meme account with over 100,000 Twitter followers iterated on a meme of a picture of a hospital IV, adding the caption “DO NOT EAT THE PINK SAUCE FROM TIKTOK.” Posts like that inadvertently sparked rumors that people had gone to the hospital because of her sauce, but we haven’t seen any evidence to confirm that it’s true. One user posted a video on TikTok (their only upload) claiming to be at the hospital after eating the product, but TechCrunch hasn’t been able to verify these claims. As questionable information spreads across TikTok like a game of telephone, it’s hard to distinguish fact from fiction — but it’s indisputably true that Pii made some mistakes. She owned up to printing incorrect nutrition labels and accidentally mailing out Pink Sauce in packaging that caused it to explode in transit. But is she an elaborate scammer, or is she a first-time entrepreneur making some big, public mistakes, then falling victim to the dark human desire to dunk on a common victim until they evaporate from the internet? Would the internet be so upset if a white man was the one behind the pink sauce? Who can say. The pink sauce panic isn’t the first social media snafu of its kind. Earlier this year, a homemade $25 “sunflower soup” also went viral on TikTok to… pretty mixed reviews. Now, the sunflower soup creator’s TikTok account appears to have been deleted. It makes sense that people are so hesitant about products like Pink Sauce when even startups backed by Bobby Flay and Gwyneth Paltrow have navigated the serious consequences that can arise when selling food. Daily Harvest, a plant-based meal delivery service valued at over $1 billion, recently recalled its French Lentil and Leek Crumbles product after hundreds of customers reported severe sickness after eating it. Luke Pearson, an influencer who received a PR package from the company, had to have his gallbladder removed after suffering weeks of illness. Abigail Silverman, a digital creative director at Cosmopolitan who also received a PR package, posted a viral TikTok detailing her extensive medical issues and hospital visits since eating the lentils. Several customers on Reddit reported similar symptoms, sending them to the ER. “Really feels Theranos like. Where is their food made?? The farmers make the ingredients but who ACTUALLY MAKES AND PACKAGES THE FOOD??” one customer wrote on Reddit. This week, Daily Harvest announced that tara flour — which they say doesn’t appear in any of their other dishes — caused the problem. Even if a startup isn’t sending people to the hospital, one false step might irreparably damage the company (and innocent consumers), making it even more difficult to operate companies around home-cooked food. Last year, Andreessen Horowitz led the $20 million Series A round for Shef, a marketplace for home chefs. Shef is especially popular among customers from other countries who are eager to indulge in a taste of home from a chef who shares their heritage. Despite sending home cooks through a 150-step onboarding process, Shef must contend with the legal issues at play with their business. Each state has different cottage food laws, which regulate the sale of homemade foods. In states like California, the intricacies of the law can vary even down to the county. An e-commerce platform for independent chefs, Castiron also raised venture funding last year. Castiron emerged as many states have made it easier in the pandemic era to legally run independent food businesses, but the platform still has to be careful to make sure that its partners are following their local laws. Small food businesses are even more challenging to operate as an independent creator, since TikTokers generally don’t have the luxury of venture funding to help them wade through such tricky legal and ethical territory. Some major social stars like MrBeast, Emma Chamberlain and the Green Brothers have launched their own ghost kitchens and coffee businesses, but these creators are established enough to have the resources to launch such businesses properly. An unknown chef in Miami isn’t as trustworthy. Even when you remove the element of selling a product that people are putting into their actual bodies, we’ve watched some pretty memorable influencer business blow-ups on social media. Remember Caroline Calloway’s mason jar crisis? Now, startups like Cobalt and Pietra profit by helping creators launch their own products, but unfortunately, Calloway’s public disputes require more than just a business partner to solve. Despite the targeted online vitriol, Pii isn’t giving up. She said that the product is in lab testing, made in a facility and follows FDA standards. Once it passes, she wants to try to put the product in stores. She also stated on her account that just this week, she was sending out more than 1,000 orders. |
| How to check for founder-investor alignment before you start fundraising Posted: 22 Jul 2022 11:00 AM PDT As the flood of pandemic-era venture capital recedes, startups need to avoid the scarcity trap that accompanies the chase for dwindling investor dollars. And as the markets turn, founders should remember the fundamentals they learned during times of plenty. Investors are pulling back as fears of a recession grow. In the first quarter of 2022, global venture funding declined 19% to $143.9 billion from the previous quarter's record-breaking peak, according to CB Insights. Whether you're looking for angel investors to seed your business or later-stage backers to help you scale, the partners you choose today will affect your company's future — from how you run your company day to day to your exit strategy. That's why it's important to pick investors who are a good fit and have track records that show how they might act when the chips are down. It's crucial to understand who your partners are before you let them in the tent. Below, we'll discuss key factors that startups should consider when evaluating investors in a changing landscape. Kick the tires and get referencesCheck in with a potential investor's portfolio companies, both current and past, to see what their experience has been. You'll need to do this without violating any non-disclosure agreements, but a key question is how investors behaved in previous downturns. For example, in the second quarter of 2020, when COVID-19 upended the global economy, did they provide portfolio companies with a bridge through uncertain times or tell them to find their own money? Early in the pandemic, investors at a venture-backed technology company we worked with helped the business manage expenses but initially refused to write checks. They also attempted to use their blocking rights to prevent other investors from backing the company and then offered it a term sheet that was substantially lower than the offer they blocked, attempting to take control of the company.
Choosing the right partner for the right stage of your business can make the difference between building a billion-dollar company and losing control of the business. We were able to work with the company to prevent that from happening. But these were people with sharp elbows, and the company had been aware of information in the public domain involving those same investors that should have been noted. Heed such signs if you come across them during your due diligence. So, what can you do? Ask around your network (including your attorneys) and the investor's existing portfolio to see what kind of reputation an investor or fund generally has and what kind of value they've added to the companies they've backed. You can also ask funds for a reference to a portfolio company where their investment didn’t work out. Talking to the CEO of a company where things didn't go as planned can shed light on how an investor behaves in challenging circumstances. Just like anyone else, investors have reputations and tendencies, and this is information that's available to founders, if they’re inclined to look. |
| TechCrunch+ roundup: Early-stage fundraising revisited, fractional hiring, HR tech boom Posted: 22 Jul 2022 10:46 AM PDT I won't use this space to dissuade anyone from launching a startup, but founders should embrace the fact that investors are looking for reasons not to give you money these days. Perhaps you don't have much revenue. Or maybe, too much of your cash flow depends on a single customer. Oh, and when are you on track to join the $100 million ARR club? Given current conditions, best practices for fundraising and finding investor alignment are less relevant than they were a year ago. Back then, the promise of early growth was enough to help many teams close seed and Series A rounds. Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to members. Today, startups with long sales cycles that aren't cash-flow positive may not even be considered for follow-on investments. If you're curious about which kinds of startups investors are (and aren't) willing to look at, Kami Vision CEO Yamin Durrani has written a comprehensive post about the changes he's observed between fundraising in Q4 2021 and Q3 2022. “Don't panic, VCs are interested in investing right now — just in a few areas,” he writes. In his article, he shares the seven tactics he used to fundraise successfully, such as planning to pitch 30-60 investors. Right now, it will take longer to raise less money that will value your company lower than you hoped. But if you're launching a startup with the intention of getting rich, you're already on the wrong track. Thanks for reading, Walter Thompson Growth cheat code: Use fractional hiring to stay on plan when cutting costs Image Credits: Henrik Sorensen (opens in a new window) / Getty Images As winter winds begin to blow, major tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Lyft have each instituted hiring freezes. Likewise, early-stage startups are under pressure to reduce burn while preserving forward momentum, but “fractional hiring is a growth cheat code” when used strategically, says Teja Yenamandra, co-founder and CEO of Gun.io. “There is now way less competition for the talent you're hiring, and you may be able to lock in a hire who was unaffordable a few months ago.” Dear Sophie: What are the student and work visa processes for grads? Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch Dear Sophie, I'm in India. I'm interested in applying to American universities next year to study computer science and artificial intelligence, and eventually work in the U.S. Can you please explain both the visa process for students and for professionals who want to work in the U.S. after graduating? Is there anything I can do to plan ahead? — Spirited Student Robotics scene continues to be bullish, but layoffs are looming Image Credits: Westend61 / Getty Images This week at TC Sessions: Robotics 2022, Natasha Mascarenhas spoke with three investors about how "a capital-intensive sector that has a longer sales time horizon and loads of infrastructure hurdles" is weathering this downturn.
"On the less rosy side, I think the layoffs are yet to come," Chen said. "In an economic downturn, the customers will be less willing to be experimental, so they're thinking about cutting costs, and then economics just becomes so much more important." Pitch Deck Teardown: Arkive's $9.7M seed deck Image Credits: Arkive (opens in a new window) Last week, Haje Jan Kamps covered "blockchain-powered museum" Arkive’s $9.7 million seed round that it will use to build a decentralized museum curated by the crowd. This week, he reviewed 12 slides from Arkive's winning pitch deck:
What downturn? Investors remain bullish on HR tech as the Great Resignation slows Image Credits: Abscent84 / Getty Images Levi Strauss is popular with Bay Area entrepreneurs: A Bavarian immigrant who arrived during the Gold Rush, he opened a dry goods store that sold supplies to speculators who hoped to fill the pockets of their new denim jeans with shiny nuggets. Like Strauss, HR tech startups that help other companies dig for golden talent have seen their fortunes rise as the Great Resignation made managing, recruiting and tracking applicants more important than ever. "As the pandemic accelerated the long-term shifts to more digital, distributed and data-driven work, innovation in HR tech has exploded," said Allison Baum Gates, a general partner at SemperVirens Venture Capital. Can Medicare save the insurtech market? Image Credits: MirageC (opens in a new window) / Getty Images In 2020, the U.S. spent nearly 20% of its GDP on healthcare. Every day, approximately 11,000 people turn 65, making them eligible for Medicare, a federally funded health insurance program that's enrolling new patients faster than ever. Companies that can help consumers navigate the complicated Medicare market have a major opportunity: “The average senior must choose between 57 different plan options, and most can't tell them apart,” said TX Zhuo and James Shecter of Fika Ventures. They've shared their six-point investment thesis with TC+ readers to show how Medicare is the "bright spark" that could light up “the entire insurtech market.” |
| VW Group CEO Herbert Diess is out Posted: 22 Jul 2022 09:55 AM PDT Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, the embattled executive who has survived a number of confrontations and power struggles with the board and unions over the past two years, is leaving the company. The VW AG board said Friday it has appointed Porsche boss Oliver Blume to head up the massive company that includes brands Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche and Volkswagen Passengers Cars. VW CFO Arno Antlitz will take the chief operating officer position. Diess is resigning by “mutual agreement.” Blume will continue in his role as chairman of Porsche AG, a position he will maintain even after a possible IPO, the company said. The changes will go into effect September 1. "During his tenure as Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand and as Chairman of the Group Board of Management, Herbert Diess played a key role in advancing the transformation of the company,” the company said in a statement. “The Group and its brands are viable for the future; its innovative capabilities and earning power are strengthened. Mr. Diess impressively demonstrated the speed at which and consistency with which he was able to carry out far-reaching transformation processes. Not only did he steer the company through extremely turbulent waters, but he also implemented a fundamentally new strategy." Diess, who took the top post in 2018, has repeatedly come up against the board and labor unions as he pushed the company to move more quickly toward electrification and build software-defined vehicles. Tensions worsened last fall after he made comments about thousands of potential job cuts due to the shift from internal combustion vehicles to EVs. His frequent comments about the dominance of Tesla (and CEO Elon Musk) didn’t help. Last December, Diess managed to win the backing from VW’s supervisory board in a deal that left him with less power. Diess was made head of Cariad, the software unit that he has widely broadcast is the future of the company and that he recently said would go through a hiring spree. However, he lost responsibilities elsewhere. Ralf Brandstätter, who had previously taken over Diess’ spot as head of the Volkswagen passenger cars brand, was given more power and a spot on the management board. Just hours before the announcement, Diess posted a lengthy message to his LinkedIn account ahead of the traditional summer break in Germany that noted the first six months of the year was demanding and stressful for employees. “After a really stressful first half of 2022 many of us are looking forward to a well-deserved summer break,” he wrote. “In addition to COVID, which struck our Chinese colleagues extremely hard, we have a war in Europe. Production was still held back by semiconductor shortages and because of a world under stress we saw many other supply challenges and soaring raw material and energy prices.” He did note some positives, including its efforts to produce and sell EVs. “High demand in China, Europe and even the U.S. In the first half [of the year], many of our EV products like the ID.3 and ID.4, Q4 e-tron or Porsche Taycan are sold out for many months of production. China has been bouncing back over the last couple of weeks; we were able to gain back market share and are once again the undisputed No. 1. And we had really exciting and emotional product launches like the ID.BUZZ. Premium is doing especially well. And in many of our regions we could continue to improve our market position and financials, further strengthening our resilience. You will see this reflected in our earnings numbers, which we will present next week.” In May, VW announced plans to create a spinoff EV brand called Scout, a dedicated company in the United States that will produce an all-electric pickup and a rugged off-roading SUV geared toward the American consumer. The new brand, named after the iconic International Harvester Scout that came to market in the early 1960s, would begin producing the two EVs by 2026. The automaker announced in July that Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh is stepping down to helm the Scout brand. |
| Mark Cuban hasn’t profited from his ‘Shark Tank’ investments Posted: 22 Jul 2022 08:54 AM PDT America’s favorite advertisement masquerading as a television show, “Shark Tank,” made Mark Cuban a household name (that is, if you weren’t already a Dallas Mavericks fan). But last week, the billionaire revealed on the Full Send podcast that overall, he hasn’t made a profit from his suite of investments. “Are you up all time on ‘Shark Tank’ investments?” the podcast host asked. “Like, up financially?” the venture capitalist said. “Oh no, I’ve gotten beat.”
“Shark Tank” brought the (dramatized, edited) inner workings of venture capital into the mainstream, but as it turns out, what makes for good television doesn’t always make for a good investment. According to the fan-run website Sharkalytics, Cuban has invested nearly $20 million into 85 companies across 111 episodes of the ABC show, which has aired 13 seasons since 2009. On Cuban’s own website, he lists 54 “Shark Tank” investments, but he’s omitted companies that no longer exist, such as Breathometer, which Cuban said was his worst loss on the show. Breathometer, a breathalyzer that plugged into your smartphone, made “Shark Tank” history. The product earned investment from all five investors on the episode, including Robert Herjavec, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner and Daymond John, in addition to Cuban. “It was a great idea and actually a decent product [ … ] but I’d look at his Instagram and he’d be in Bora Bora,” Cuban said. “Two weeks later, he’d be in Vegas partying [ … ] Next thing you know, all of the money is gone.” Cuban said that he had texted the founder, Charles Michael Yim, reminding him that he needed to be working on his product — but Cuban said the founder claimed he was “networking.” That wasn’t the only blown-kiss of death for Breathometer, though. In 2017, the company agreed to an FTC settlement after the government agency found that the blood alcohol level readings were often incorrect. That’s a huge problem, seeing as the product was marketed to help people decide whether they’re sober enough to drive home after drinking. As a result of the settlement, Breathometer offered refunds on any product sold between 2013 and 2015. Now, the founder is working on Mint, a similar product that detects … oral health and hydration. So, at least based on Cuban’s stats, it seems like we have some more evidence for what we’ve known to be true for so long: “Shark Tank” is more about theater than business. Who would’ve thought! |
| Can Alto succeed at employee-driven ride-hail? Posted: 22 Jul 2022 08:32 AM PDT Ride-hail startup Alto thinks the current gig worker-based market is inherently broken. Drivers’ salaries are squeezed by the costs of owning and maintaining a vehicle; riders aren’t guaranteed a high-quality service; cities have had to deal with angry taxi drivers; and the app-based companies themselves that have undercharged users to expand into new markets are still not seeing the profits from a growth-at-all costs mindset. Alto founders started the company in 2018 to solve those problems by taking more control over the whole ride-hail experience. The startup actually leases its own fleet of ride-hail vehicles, employs drivers and is regulated as a transportation company. Yes, that means it’s more expensive to ride than your average Lyft or Uber, but CEO Will Coleman says Alto isn’t for everybody; it’s for customers who have a higher willingness to both pay and wait for a good thing. Hence the name — “Alto” means tall, high, elevated or superior in Spanish. Earlier this month, Alto launched its service in San Francisco, its sixth market across the U.S. The startup also operates in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, and says it is continuing to expand its model. To date, Alto has about 2,000 drivers on its platform driving 400 vehicles, and is awaiting a shipment of 600 more vehicles. Alto is just one of many new ride-hail startups that are hoping to solve the many flaws of the gig worker model. Revel, for example, has a fleet of Teslas driven exclusively by employees in New York, and Earth is doing something similar in Texas. Meanwhile, worker-owned apps like the Co-Op Ride app is owned collectively by the drivers, which the company says allows drivers to earn 8% to 10% more than those who work for Uber or Lyft. Alto, which last raised a $45 million Series B in the summer of 2021, says it has grown 420% year-over-year (although the company didn’t say up from what), and attributes this growth to a differentiated level of service.  Map of Alto’s ride-hail service in San Francisco. Image Credits: Alto “We needed to employ our drivers so that we could not only select and vet, but importantly, train and performance-manage them to drive a consistent high-quality experience for our passengers,” Coleman told TechCrunch. “We own the vehicles so we can clean them, maintain them, keep them safe and ensure that our customer gets the experience that they expect in every single ride.” The vehicles in Alto’s fleet are all luxury, midsize SUVs — currently Buick Enclaves and VW Atlases — that feature leather interiors, plexiglass partitions and in-vehicle WiFi, according to the company. The goal is to transition to a full EV fleet starting early next year, depending on vehicle availability. To ensure a smooth transition to EVs, Alto is working on building electric infrastructure charging hubs for its future fleet in all of the cities in which the company currently operates, plus Silicon Valley. Riders can only access Alto’s service through a membership of $12.95 per month or $99 per year, which Coleman says creates a higher bar to acquisition but one that ensures Alto acquires customers who are more profitable over time because they ride more frequently. “We don’t have to build to the same peaks that our competitors do,” said Coleman. While the membership model may be a successful one in the long term, it’s all about how you sell it. Multiple app reviews on the Google Play store and on Apple’s App Store show customers who are disgruntled at being confronted by a request to put in their credit card details immediately upon opening the app, instead of giving them time to play around, review pricing for rides or even determine if Alto services the passenger’s area. In fact, based on reviews, the app seems to have a number of problems that are putting off users. Over the past year, customers have had problems with pre-booked rides not showing up, the app freezing, inability to get verified, a difficult user interface, no way to contact drivers and more. “Downloaded, signed up and paid my monthly fee thinking that with employees and such I was paying a premium for a more reliable service,” wrote one app reviewer. “Booked a car for the first time, two days in advance for an airport trip. They no showed and we called and they have no idea why the car isn’t on the way. Ordered a Lyft and it was here before Alto could even figure out what happened. Do not recommend.” Many reviewers did say their rides were clean and smooth and enjoyed the “vibe” of the service, but were deterred by issues with poor customer service and an unideal app experience. In response to this, Alto said because it owns and operates its own fleet, capacity is inherently limited. “The future of ridesharing is in fleets — first electric, then autonomous. In that scenario, supply will always be more constrained than in a gig model,” said Coleman in a follow-up email. “You have to believe that to build a fleet-based, profitable ridesharing company, customers will ultimately be willing to call a ride ~10 minutes ahead (for a better, safer, experience) versus expecting three-minute pickup times.” Coleman went on to say Alto is constantly working to improve the app experience and grow its fleet to best serve its members. Employees today, robots tomorrow“We really think of ourselves as a human-driven autonomous fleet, and then that way we’re also solving for the future,” said Coleman. Alto’s end game is to create the vehicle-operating platform now that can, in the future, be used with autonomous vehicles. Coleman argues Alto’s tech stack has optimization capabilities that are more cut out for such a transition than Uber and Lyft’s, simply because those companies don’t manage the supply. “We think about orchestration, how to optimize the best outcome for our entire fleet and customer base, rather than any individual independent contractor, to drive asset utilization and therefore profitability,” said Coleman. “Uber and Lyft have built no operating capability, quite frankly. We’re building the real estate footprint, the charging infrastructure, and just the know-how on how to clean and store and maintain these fleets of hundreds of vehicles in all the cities in which we operate.” Coleman brings up a good point, namely that it might be easier for a company that has existing operating capabilities to transition to, well, operating a fleet of autonomous vehicles — something that top executives at Uber and Lyft are no doubt crossing their fingers for so they can be done with the pesky problem of dealing with drivers’ rights. For his part, Coleman doesn’t think either company could even afford to move to an employee-driven model today. “Their model is predatory towards drivers, and if they can’t make their model sustainable with that, then there’s no way they can make it sustainable with employees,” said Coleman. |
| Looks like (some) neobanks will be OK after all Posted: 22 Jul 2022 08:30 AM PDT The fintech funding boom of the past several years saw huge amounts of capital flowing into so-called neobanks, digital financial companies offering banking services to markets general and niche. The overarching idea behind the push made sense — many traditional banks are IRL-first and digital second, and their brick-and-mortar way of doing things engendered costs that were passed on to consumers. So why not build a new bank, a neobank, that uses tech to augment a meager staff, eschews buildings, and passes along savings to customers instead? With the help of some existing banks’ regulation-ready systems, neobanks could spin up cheaply, and quickly begin collecting revenue — thanks to the power of interchange fees — in the form of small slices of customer spending. It was a pretty good idea, frankly, and like any such idea, attracted a host of founders and financial backers. But after a period of epic fundraising and a few exits, sentiment seemingly shifted against the model. How many neobanks could the market really support? Had some of these gone too niche in their work to segment the market more finely and tune their products? |
| Check out the founder-focused sessions happening at TechCrunch Disrupt Posted: 22 Jul 2022 08:00 AM PDT Here's a look at just some of the ways early-stage founders can learn to build, grow and fund their startups at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco. Word to the budget-wise: don't miss out on early-bird savings. Buy your early bird pass before prices go up on July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT and save up to $1,300. Let's kick off the Disrupt opportun-a-palooza with a time-sensitive reminder to apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 (SBF 200) by July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT. If you make the cut, you'll have a free, VIP experience packed with perks and possibilities, including the chance to compete for the Startup Battlefield title and the $100,000 prize. Check out everything SBF 200 founders receive and apply to the SBF 200 today! How-to at the TechCrunch+ stage Here are just two of the how-tos founders can learn about from startup execs and investors at the TechCrunch+ stage. How to Raise First Dollars in a More Difficult Market: The Venture Perspective with Annie Case (Kleiner Perkins) and Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures): It is clear by now that the venture market has changed this year. This means that founders looking to raise their first capital can't follow last year's playbook and expect results. So what do founders need to know, and how can they snag investor attention in a market where the rules are changing? How to Secure Those Hard to Find Hires with Chris Herd (Firstbase), Kate Ryder (Maven) and Emil Yeargin (Gusto): Hiring isn't easy even in the best of times. With a tight tech talent market and an increasingly remote-friendly — and therefore globally competitive — corporate landscape, founders have never had more places to hire from and more competitors to measure up against. With the three we'll go deep on hiring today with an especial focus on hard-to-fill roles. Roundtables Here are just two of our 25 roundtable topics. These 30-minute, expert-led discussions encourage in-depth conversation and connection with up to 20 attendees. My daughter the cyborg: Marrying human to machine is the next great technological frontier, and for Jeremiah Robison, founder of CIONIC, a bionic clothing company revolutionizing human augmentation, his mission is driven by his daughter’s mobility disability. Participants will learn where to begin when innovating at the intersection of human and machine, how to scale a product that's never existed before and peek into the future of augmented human mobility. Making venture more accessible: Despite press releases, sound bites and increased awareness surrounding the inequities in venture funding, many barriers remain for women — and POC-led startups seeking financing — and people hoping to work at a VC firm. Record numbers of VCs have expressed intentions to support underrepresented founders, yet VC remains an exclusive insider’s club. Participants will discuss steps for change, the best ways to vet opportunities and provide a playbook for investing in diversity. Networking opportunities Tap the app: Disrupt is the perfect place to find and engage with driven, focused people who can help you achieve your specific business needs and goals, and we have the perfect networking tool for you. The TechCrunch event app puts networking in the palm of your hand. Based on information that you provide during registration, the app can search the attendees list for suitable candidates, make suggestions and send out invitations at your bidding. We'll open the app weeks before the show begins. Find the people you want to meet and line up your RSVPs in advance. Prefer your networking ad hoc style? Use the event app to set up meetings on the fly whenever you spot a hot prospect at Disrupt. Speed networking: Take advantage of a different way to connect with other attendees. When the agenda posts, add the networking breaks to your event app schedule. During Disrupt, you'll be randomly matched with other attendees for three-minute conversations — based on mutual interest in predetermined topics. It's a fun way to assess opportunity potential without a big time commitment. Dinners for 6: A tasty way to meet potential investors, customers or other founders. You’ll have the opportunity to sign up to go out to a local restaurant for dinner with five other Disrupt attendees. Good food and relaxed conversation can lead to great opportunities. Heads up and wallets out: Dinners for 6 is a strictly dutch-treat situation. That's just a sample of what you can experience at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20. Buy your pass before the prices go up on July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT and save up to $1,300. Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
|
| Posted: 22 Jul 2022 07:35 AM PDT TechCrunch is more than just a site with words. We’re also building a growing stable of podcasts focused on the most critical topics relating to the startup and venture capital worlds. To help you find the right show for your interests, we’ve compiled our audio output from the week. Embedded below is the latest from Chain Reaction, our stellar crypto-focused podcast hosted by Lucas and Anita. You will also find Found, a long-form bit of work that goes deep on the real saga of company formation, from Jordan and Darrell. There’s an audio-only version of TechCrunch Live hosted by Matt that features founders and investors discussing successful pitch decks. Finally, there’s Equity, TechCrunch’s long-running, Webby-award-winning podcast focused on venture capital and the latest startup news, hosted by Natasha, Mary Ann and Alex. And if you are more into the written over the spoken word, we have newsletters on the above topics as well. The TechCrunch PodcastEpisode 10: Tesla’s solar roofs have stayed mostly in the dark and other TC news This week on the TechCrunch Podcast, TC climate writer Harri Weber comes on to talk about Tesla's underperforming solar roofing business and new TC reporter Kyle Wiggins does a deep dive into Butler Hospitality's recent layoffs and how they are a cautionary tale for other food and hospitality tech businesses. And of course, Darrell gives you a rundown of the biggest stories in tech this week. Articles from the episode:
Other news from the week:
Chain ReactionEpisode 15: Crypto winters, DAO death and the future of community investing (w/ Alexander Taub) Welcome back; this week Lucas and Anita dive into a conversation around OpenSea's significant layoffs, how Binance is taking on Coinbase in a stateside battle royale and why the Bored Apes creators are trying to outdo Meta with their own metaverse. In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita chat with Alexander Taub, the founder of DAO tooling startup Upstream, which lets people spin up their own decentralized governance organizations. DAOs were the space to be this year, but how many of them will stick around through a crypto winter? Subscribe to the Chain Reaction newsletter to dive deeper. Helpful links: The TechCrunch Live PodcastEpisode 11: Building Roboticists with Ayanna Howard and Ayah Bdeir TechCrunch Live records weekly, live, each Wednesday at 3:00 pm EDT / 12:00 pm PDT. There's never been a more exciting time to work in robotics. The pandemic changed the face of the industry from research to real world. We're joined by two experts who also served as judges for the pitch-off at our recent robotics event. Ayanna Howard is the dean of The Ohio State University College of Engineering. She's worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and founded the Georgia Tech spinoff, Zyrobotics. Ayah Bdeir is the founder of STEM education kit littleBits and is a venture partner at early-stage investment firm, E14 Fund. Register for future TechCrunch Live events, and watch past events here. FoundEpisode 67: Carolyn Childers, Chief On this episode of Found Live, chief co-founder and CEO Carolyn Childers joins us to talk about leading a company that is focused on good leadership. After a transformative experience with another woman business leader who is now her co-founder, Carolyn wanted to create a product that would connect women at the VP and C-suite level with the kind of excellent mentorship she experienced while providing virtual and in-person spaces to develop community. Subscribe to Found to hear more stories from founders each week. Connect with us:
EquityEpisode 545: Thanks to Amazon, One Medical and Whole Foods are on the same dang shelf 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 Grace once again this week for our weekly roundup show, and as often happens, news broke as we were gearing up to record. So we had to touch on the huge Amazon-One Medical deal to get started. Naturally we all had thoughts. What else did we get into? The following:
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. Episode 544: OK, don’t fear: the long shots are still getting venture funding Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex asked: How do founders hold two ideas in their heads: both that there is an economic downturn, but also that things are looking up for many industries? After a series of episodes about the tensions within the downturn, this is a “good news, despite” episode.
We had a great time, and hope you like this show. We're back Friday with our regular news roundup! 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. Episode 543: When will India make up its mind about crypto? Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Alex and Grace are back to cover the biggest and most interesting technology, startup and markets news. Today was a fun day in that we didn’t start off with just bad news — what a change!
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. |
Marvel's 
| You are subscribed to email updates from TechCrunch. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Inbox too full?  Subscribe to the feed version of TechCrunch in a feed reader. | |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment