Journalists care very much about tension, drama and signal. This often looks like good news, like when small, vibrant startups raise seed capital to take on a public giant or a well-capitalized late-stage giant, or that moment when you realize that healthcare disruption is only in its infancy. However, recently we have been witnessing a huge correction in startups at all stages, from double rounds of layoffs, through valuation cuts, to complete company closures. There was a lot of doom and gloom, but the story doesn’t end there.
ON Right, the podcast I co-host with Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo, we spend a lot of time talking about the ups and downs. Today, I want to highlight six conversations that raise tense, dramatic, and depressing issues, but have nothing to do with the tech industry downturn (or tech industry layoffs). Enjoy!
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In this episode, TC’s Alex and Brian Heater talk about robots. Recorded just before our hugely successful TC Sessions: Robotics, the capsule discusses the 8 million problems robots want to solve, lidar and the limits of hardware technology, and what Heater says is the only successful home robot on the market.
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Before we recorded this as a podcast, I asked this question as a tongue-in-cheek headline: “YC Makes Product Hunt, Product Hunt Makes A16z, A16z Makes YC.” As you can see from the headline and title of the episode, we’re talking about technology being full of imitators and what that means for the innovation bar. This is one of those episodes that makes me love how this industry comes full circle – and scratches my head thinking about how the tide can both confuse and complement a founder’s fundraising journey.
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Do we need to explain more? On this fateful Friday at the stock exchange, the entire crew will be talking about a lot of news – but most importantly, the fact that Stripe and Plaid went from friends to competitors in one quick product move. Well, more like a lot of quick moves and maybe even a few subtweets. This is the perfect show for anyone interested in fintech, competition and the art of design.
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Ahead of YC’s biennial showcase in a few weeks, this episode is a must-read for anyone who likes to be curious about the future of accelerators, IPOs, and the startup brands that are synonymous with hype.
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In this episode, featuring Amanda Silberling, we explore the different ways companies try to pay creators and the reasons why most of these vehicles are fundamentally flawed.
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We talk about everyone’s favorite buzzword and its limits. Spoiler alert: communities are hard to enforce, so this episode brings awareness to the idea of curating, supporting, and creating.
Right drops every Monday at 7:00 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6:00 a.m. PDT, so keep subscribing Apple Podcasts, Cloudy, Spotify and all the casts.