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5月15日

Well, do you trust Sam Altman?

The Musk v. Altman trial came to a close this week, and the final arguments kept circling back to one question: can we trust the people in charge of AI? All of this is playing out as SpaceX charges toward what could be one of the largest IPOs in American history, with a whole generation of founders already spinning out of the Musk empire. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane break down the trial's closing stretch and what the growing Elon Musk founder ecosystem actually looks like on the ground, and the other deals that caught our eye this week. Listen to the full episode to hear about: How Anduril landed a $5 billion Series H, more than doubling the valuation it landed just under a year ago Why investors just can’t say no to RJ Scaringe, who’s raked in over $1 billion for Rivian spinout Mind Robotics How voice AI startup Vapi beat out over 40 other companies to secure a contract handling all of Ring's customer support What an Anthropic report about an AI agent blackmailing its own developers says about where the industry actually is Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5月15日

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40 分鐘
5月13日

Amazon's Steve Schmidt on why your AI agents are your biggest security risk (Live at HumanX)

AI may be changing how companies build, but it's also changing how they get attacked, often by their own tools. Amazon Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt has watched threat actors at every skill level get sharper, faster, and harder to contain. The risk he's most focused on, however, isn't coming from outside the firewall. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, we're bringing you a conversation Rebecca Bellan had with Schmidt at the HumanX conference in San Francisco. The two dug into what AI is already doing to the threat landscape and how Amazon is rethinking identity, containment, and human oversight to keep agents in check. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why shadow AI inside your own organization may be a bigger liability than the hackers trying to get in What agentic identity means in practice, and how Amazon traces every agent action back to a human How startups with five people (and no CISO) can manage their AI security, and why containment is becoming the defining security challenge of the agentic era Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5月13日

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21 分鐘
5月8日

The 'people’s airline,' SpaceXAI, and the Enterprise AI Race

Everyone wants a piece of the enterprise AI pie, and this week, we saw a string of companies making their moves. From Anthropic and OpenAI announcing new joint ventures targeting enterprise AI deployment to SAP dropping $1B on German AI startup Prior Labs, it's becoming clear that if you're a startup building enterprise tools, you're likely an acquisition target. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into the week's enterprise AI deals, the xAI-Anthropic compute arrangement, and what it all means ahead of what could be a big IPO season. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why a TikToker is trying to crowdfund the purchase of Spirit Airlines, and whether anyone really loves Spirit enough to make it work Why Katie Haun's venture fund and Andreessen Horowitz are both raising billions to back a crypto comeback Aurora Innovation's milestone commercial trucking contract with a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, announced shortly after we caught up with Aurora’s CEO, Chris Urmson, at HumanX The Pentagon's latest AI spending spree, inking deals with Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:31 Spirit Airlines & the crowdfunded "people's airline" 03:25 xAI x Anthropic deal: is xAI becoming a NEO cloud? 13:47 Haun Ventures & a16z's crypto comeback 17:48 Aurora Innovation lands a commercial trucking contract 19:27 A big week for enterprise AI: who's actually making money? 26:45 The Pentagon's AI spending spree 31:04 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5月8日

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33 分鐘
4月23日

Don't stop hiring humans. Stop hiring the wrong humans with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan

Surviving the early days as an AI startup isn’t just about making the technology work, it’s about hiring the right people, avoiding costly mistakes, and standing out in a crowded market. This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, founder and CEO of Artisan, a fast-growing AI startup building AI employees for sales. Best known for its viral “Stop Hiring Humans” campaign, Artisan is rethinking outbound sales with AI, while still betting on hiring exceptional human talent. In this episode, they break down what it really takes to build and scale a venture-backed AI company, from Y Combinator to rapid growth. This conversation covers: Startup hiring mistakes every founder should avoid Lessons on firing, team building, and company culture in early-stage startups The strategy behind bold, controversial marketing that drives growth How AI is transforming sales, hiring, and the future of work What founders get wrong about the necessary roles needed for a scaling startup This conversation gets to the heart of building a startup: making the right hires early or paying for it later. Subscribe to Build Mode on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, or ⁠wherever you like to listen⁠. And watch the full videos on ⁠YouTube⁠. Apply to Startup Battlefield: We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself): techcrunch.com/apply. Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast. TechCrunch Disrupt: If you're thinking about applying to Startup Battlefield, then October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, we're back for TechCrunch Disrupt, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with 1000s of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets. Use code buildmode15 for 15% off any ticket type. New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.

4月23日

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37 分鐘
5月6日

Aurora's Chris Urmson on why self-driving trucks are finally ready (Live at HumanX)

Self-driving has been "almost here" for over a decade. But somewhere between DARPA challenges and a handful of driverless trucks hauling freight between Dallas and Houston, Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson’s story changed. The self-driving truck company started commercial driverless operations last April and is now scaling from a handful of trucks to hundreds this year. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, we're bringing you a conversation Rebecca Bellan had with Urmson at the HumanX conference in San Francisco. The pair dug into the long road from lab to highway and how physical AI differs from the LLM boom everyone else is chasing. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why long-haul trucking may crack the autonomy business case before robotaxis ever do What "verifiable AI" means and why Urmson thinks end-to-end systems are a liability when lives are on the line The surprisingly common-sense solution to the driverless truck safety triangle problem What Aurora's roadmap looks like beyond trucking, and which companies in the autonomy space have Urmson genuinely excited Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5月6日

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33 分鐘
4月24日

Apple's new CEO, and why Elon Musk wants to buy Cursor for $60B

A new era is on the way for Apple as Tim Cook plans to step down from his CEO role in September, handing the reins to hardware chief John Ternus. Ternus may be inheriting one of the most durable businesses in tech, but he’s also stepping into a very different ecosystem than the one Cook spent decades shaping. The App Store’s 30% cut is under pressure, the behind-the-scenes power Apple once held over developers is being challenged, and AI-native apps are changing what it means to build on Apple’s platform. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what this transition means for startups and a closer look at some of the week’s biggest deals — including SpaceX's $60B option on Cursor. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why Anthropic’s Mythos model is raising questions about both safety and marketing The $5 billion Amazon-Anthropic deal that looks a lot like every other circular AI infrastructure play What the SpaceX-Cursor agreement (and that $10 billion breakup fee) says about Elon Musk's AI strategy post-xAI merger Why fintech Revolut and AI chip startup Cerebras' public market plans have us wondering whether this is actually the year the IPO market reopens Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:26 Anthropic's Mythos accessed by “unauthorized groups” 04:28 Is Amazon's $5B Anthropic investment just another circular deal? 09:53 SpaceX and Cursor’s $60B option 18:25 Is this finally the year of the IPO? 21:38 SpaceX, Revolut, and Cerebras: the IPOs to watch 26:41 Tim Cook's retirement plans 29:15 What a new Apple CEO means for startups and the App Store 35:59 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月24日

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38 分鐘
5月1日

Did you know you can't steal a charity? Don't worry. Elon Musk will remind you.

Elon Musk spent the better part of three days on the witness stand this week in his lawsuit against OpenAI, and it's already getting messy. Emails, texts, and his own tweets are surfacing in court, and there are plenty more witnesses to come. Musk's argument against OpenAI? By converting the company to a for-profit model, Sam Altman betrayed the “nonprofit for the benefit of humanity” mission Musk signed up to fund. As Musk keeps reminding the courtroom: “You can't steal a charity.” On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec and Sean O'Kane break down what's actually at stake in the courtroom and what to watch for as Altman and others take the stand, plus deals, defense tech, and what Big Tech's earnings week revealed about the limits of the AI spending era. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why cloud was the winner of earnings week, and what AWS, Google, and Microsoft's numbers say about where enterprise AI spending is actually landing The scholarship app founder taking Sallie Mae to court after they acquired his startup…and began selling its student data to ad networks and universities BMW i Ventures new $300 million fund with its sights set on AI How defense tech startup Scout AI is pitching “military AGI” using vision-language-action (VLA) models Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5月1日

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39 分鐘
4月3日

Space: the final frontier of AI infrastructure

Tech companies are racing to build data centers in space, pitching orbital compute as the next frontier for AI infrastructure, even as the technical and economic realities remain far from clear. Add in OpenAI’s massive $122 billion round and Bluesky’s latest AI backlash, and the message is clear: The future of AI is being shaped as much by ambition and hype as it is by real-world constraints. On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane unpack these massive capital bets, user backlash, and off-world compute plans along with Whoop’s major valuation and the literal downfall of robot Olaf. Listen to the full episode to hear about: OpenAI’s $122 billion fundraise and what its near-trillion-dollar valuation says about expectations for AI. Whoop’s $575 million raise and the shift toward “wearables 2.0” (and what happens to all that data). Bluesky’s AI-powered feed builder and why it triggered a major user backlash. The rise of data centers in space and whether they are financially or physically feasible. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:20 A humanoid Olaf robot collapses at Disneyland Paris 03:30 OpenAI raises $122B at an $852B valuation 11:30 Whoop lands $575M and bets big on wearable data 18:50 The risks (and value) of personal health data 23:00 Bluesky’s AI feed builder sparks backlash 30:00 Can Bluesky keep growing — and compete with X? 36:30 The race to build data centers in space 44:30 SpaceX, Starlink, and the business of orbital compute 49:30 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4月3日

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34 分鐘
3月25日

ReelShort made $1.2 billion on werewolf romances. Watch Club wants to do it better.

Over the past few years, a new category of mobile apps has quietly exploded into a multi-billion dollar business. They're called “micro dramas” — short-form, mobile-first scripted shows designed to be watched vertically on your phone. Think soap opera meets TikTok, complete with secret billionaire romances, disapproving werewolf mothers-in-law, and cliffhangers engineered to keep users tapping. The leading app, ReelShort, made $1.2 billion in consumer spending last year alone. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan and TechCrunch senior reporter Amanda Silberling sit down with Henry Soong, founder of Watch Club, who thinks the micro drama industry is still "in its MySpace era." He has a vision for what the Facebook moment could look like. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why micro dramas took off in China while Quibi burned through $2 billion and failed in the U.S., and what that gap reveals about content, product, and business model. How Watch Club is targeting a completely different audience than ReelShort and Drama Box. The tension between building an intentional social experience and optimizing for engagement the way TikTok does. Whether AI is coming for the werewolf billionaire romance script. Amanda has thoughts. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:11 Why micro dramas, and why now? 04:25 What makes Watch Club different 07:29 The monetization model problem 18:52 Optimizing for intentionality, not engagement 24:23 Why Quibby failed (content, product & business model) 28:22 Defensibility: tech company or studio? 31:36 AI, the WGA, and the future of storytelling 33:44 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3月25日

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37 分鐘
3月13日

Wiz's first investor breaks down Google's $32B acquisition

According to Index Ventures Partner Shardul Shah, cybersecurity startup Wiz sits “at the center of three tailwinds: AI, cloud, and security spend.” Those tailwinds powered what just became the largest venture-backed acquisition in history — Google's $32 billion deal, finalized after a declined 2024 offer, antitrust review on both sides of the Atlantic, and an extra $9 billion to sweeten the pot. On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Anthony Ha, Rebecca Bellan, and Sean O'Kane sit down with Shah to dig into what made Wiz worth that price tag, and also cover more of the week's headlines. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why a DOGE employee allegedly walked out of the Social Security Administration with a thumb drive full of personal data, and the questions it raises about access to sensitive systems Taya and Sandbar, the latest startups betting voice is the next big AI interface — but do normal consumers agree? Palmer Luckey raising for a retro gaming startup at a $1 billion valuation Meta’s acquisition of Moltbook, the viral AI agent social network The latest in the Anthropic vs. DoD saga, including tech workers at OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft signing their names on a legal brief in support of Anthropic Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:16 Did a DOGE employee steal your SSN? 02:53 AI note-taking wearables are back: Taya & Sandbar 09:18 Palmer Lucky's retro gaming startup ModRetro 13:39 Meta acquires AI agent social network Moltbot 18:54 Inside Google's $32B Wiz acquisition with Shardul Shah 28:41 Anthropic's lawsuit against the DoD 38:40 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3月13日

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41 分鐘

TechCrunch podcasts cover the business of technology, startups, venture capital funding, crypto, and the humans behind it all.

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Well, do you trust Sam Altman?

Amazon's Steve Schmidt on why your AI agents are your biggest security risk (Live at HumanX)

The 'people’s airline,' SpaceXAI, and the Enterprise AI Race

Don't stop hiring humans. Stop hiring the wrong humans with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan

Aurora's Chris Urmson on why self-driving trucks are finally ready (Live at HumanX)

Apple's new CEO, and why Elon Musk wants to buy Cursor for $60B

Did you know you can't steal a charity? Don't worry. Elon Musk will remind you.

Space: the final frontier of AI infrastructure

ReelShort made $1.2 billion on werewolf romances. Watch Club wants to do it better.

Wiz's first investor breaks down Google's $32B acquisition

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