OpenAI and Google’s busy week, and why are so many VCs leaving their firms? | Equity Podcast

This episode is presented by invest Puerto Rico if you believe your business Can go anywhere Puerto Rico is the [Music] Place hello and welcome back to equity Techcrunch's Flagship podcast about the Business of startups today is May 17 2024 I'm marann aavo and joining me Today is TC reporter haa camps haa how's It going how's your week been you know What my week has been nuts I woke up to Elon Musk tweeting out a video I created For tech runch at google.io and 36 Million views later my mentions are uh Interesting question mark but it's been Really good and it's been uh it's been a Good high energy week 36 million views Seriously yeah kind of nuts huh that's Crazy that's crazy wow we're going to Talk more about that later though also Joining us today is senior Tech coach Reporter on the Venture be and co-host Of our sister podcast found Becca scac Becca how's it going for you oh you know Hanging in there but happy to be here How are you Maryann I am the same and Happy that you both are here as well Before we get to the show rundown want To ask our listeners please don't forget To rate and review equity on Apple Podcast Spotify or whatever your Preferred pod streamer is we really appr Appreciate it now today we've got a Packed show I can't wait to get into all

Of it first of all deals of the week We're talking about layer Spore and pay HOA then we're going to look at ai's Very busy busy week and discuss why VC's Are still playing musical chairs so haa Tell us all about layer it's a fintech So of course I'm curious to hear more Details about this company yeah so ler Just announced that they raised $2.3 Million and they're kind of gunning for QuickBooks King of the Hill status and I'm pretty psyched about it actually They're kind of embedding accounting Into pretty commonly used platforms for Small and mediumsized businesses like Square and like toast and the company's Planning to deploy all of this funding Into expanding its services to make sure That additional small businesses can use That across lots of different software Platforms I think that's pretty Fascinating but my first question was is This not already being done well you'd Be amazed but somehow it isn't I feel Like a lot of the people are kind of Building their own Integrations between QuickBooks or zero or whatever just They're using and their tools and it's a Bit of a mess I've run a whole bunch of Different businesses myself and that Part of it has always been a massive pin In the butt now they just raised $2.3 Million in preed money I think better Tomorrow Ventures right that raise okay

Not a lot of money but they're still Very early stage I think they only have About four customers is that right Something in that range yeah I mean I What I really love about it is that They're really gunning for a slice of The market where very young businesses Don't really want to have to deal with This stuff and I think it's a I think It's a cool take on it I love their Confidence to be honest with you you Know they're not intimidated QuickBooks Has been around for a long long time It's kind of just one of those things Where I think businesses feel like they Don't really have other options so they Just use it no offense QuickBooks but That's kind of the impression that I get And I I love the confidence of these Founders cuz they feel like you know What there's been a shift in how SBS run Their businesses we can disrupt this and I you know it's a huge Market there's Definitely room for more players so I I Love that they are undeterred by the Fact that QuickBooks has kind of this Stronghold in the market and they're Just going at it yeah well what I love About is is that they're doing like real Disruption right they're coming at this Market from a completely different angle I feel like a lot of the these kinds of Businesses like QuickBooks came out of Like kind of the sages of the world

Right the kind of Enterprise era of Accounting right where big accounting Firms have these tools that they use and They know how to use but the smaller Businesses were like oh God do we really Have to go this deep into accounting and So companies like fresh books and QuickBooks and zero came along and made It a lot easier but it was still kind of Coming at it from the accounting angle The novelty here is that they're coming At it from the startup angle it's like Hey you just want to run your business Business well here's kind of the Accounting layer on top of that and so Reaching into the market from a Different angle I think gives him a Really interesting opportunity yeah I Was going to say similar because I think There's been over the last couple years Especially since Co there have been a Lot more companies building for small Businesses in mind and I definitely Agree that it's good to build from that Approach because of course if you are a Small business but you want to grow into A big business it would seem easy like Oh I'll work with this Enterprise Software company that's design for the Bigger guys and I will grow into it but There's a lot of value in having stuff Just aimed for the company and the size That you're at the things you actually Need and doing those things well and so

Like I definitely like this concept CU I Think it could be the kind of thing Where instead of coming from that top Down approach people could get into Working with layer and layer could Eventually expand to offer that kind of Stuff as they grow and so I really like This idea because I think it's so easy To say that small businesses can just Use the big software just use the stuff Available for big businesses but it's Just not always the best fit no it's not And interestingly their customers so far Range in Industries including truck Drivers to medical spas and they Collectively work even though there's Only four of them collectively work with Over a 100,000 small businesses which Wow that's a lot and before we move on I Want to just also point out this quote That the co-founder Justin meritto he Was quoted as saying in the story that He was surprised at how many SMB users Tell them that the embedded accounting Views that they're able to see by using Layer is actually the first time that They've ever seen a clear profit and Loss view of their business so I was Like wow that's crazy like you would Think that that would just be you know There with anything the company would be Using yeah I've experienced that Firsthand a number of times with my own Companies where you know all the stuff

All the nuts and bolts that happens Behind the scenes and then you know an Analyst has to go in and actually give You your report and I'm like why is that A thing like this is something that the Software should be able to do itself Exactly I I think this is where you see The difference if you think like an Accountant this makes sense but if you Think like a small business owner you're Like I just want to know how much money I made this month you kind of come at it From a different angle and I think it's Such a good I I love that our readers Seem to like this too the the story's Been performing really well which goes To show you that it's not always the Massive rounds that get the most Attention so Becca would love to hear More about Spore which you wrote about This week it's got a really unique model And it also raised some money and just Leading off of your point it also raised A small amount of money Spore just Raised 4 million this week Spore is a Oso Norway based startup that uses AI to Help wind farms mitigate their impact on Local bird populations which I think is Super interesting because obviously wind Farms wind turbines which I learned Doing this piece I actually did didn't Know like I knew wind power was a Growing aspect of like the energy Grid In the US but I actually did not realize

That it is the largest source of Renewable energy in the US currently so Super important because the major Problem that wind farm expansion is Being held up by is Birds especially in The US the American bald eagle so when You go to build a wind farm here you Have to follow a ton of different Guidelines and there are multiple things That are specifically related to birds That wind farms have to report on they Have to make sure certain sites aren't Going to be particularly devastating Because Spore can make a big difference Here not only for setting up a new Wind Farm like okay we've got two potential Sites let's set up this Tech which uses Ai and computer vision to sort of track Camera footage to see birds come in They'll just Mark the birds they can Predict their flight patterns the Migration patterns to get a better feel Of when there will be bird traffic in These areas but existing wind farms can Use this too because they if they notice Oh this specific type of bird comes Through here every April for 2 weeks They can either slow down their wind Turbines to make less of a chance for a Bird to collide with them or they can Just shut them off entirely and just Kind of take that factor out and I just Thought this was so interesting I love The intersection of AI and climate and I

Mean talking about using AI to protect Birds from wind turbines I just like This just interested me in so many Different ways Becca what a great fun Mind I have to admit I've never really Thought about this before I mean you Know I've even driven by wind farms and It never really occurred to me how birds And their migration patterns and all of That how that could influence anything Going on on a wind farm and also the Fact that it can endanger their Populations of course it makes perfect Sense like 100% but I just never thought About it so this is really fascinating I'm enough of a nerd that when I'm Driving around I'm like counting how Long it takes for one of those wings to Go around and I googled at some point How long are these arms on these wind Turbines and it turns out the tips of Them can like if it's on a windy day They can spin at like 180 miles an hour You don't want to be a bird getting hit By one of those arms and that's the Reason I thought it was hilarious that Reduced the impact yeah that's what We're doing here but you know it's a It's massively dangerous for birds and So I think it's really cool that they're Able to apply some technology to this Yeah and I got sent this one from one of Their backers superorganism which is a VC fund based over here in their us was

Actually the only us backer in the round And their whole thing and why they were Like Spore fits our thesis perfectly is They're looking at ways we can continue With our climate goals continue with Getting emissions down getting to net Zero emissions but doing so in ways that Doesn't harm nature and biodiversity in The process which seems kind of like a Niche thesis I remember I covered the Launch of the fund a couple of months Ago but then talking to a company like Sport it's like well this is yeah like This is exact how people should be Approaching this because like what good Is getting to net zero emissions if You're like taking out all these animal Populations destroying habitats like in The process so yeah I think this is Super interesting and they're getting a Ton of demand already despite being very Young so it'll be interesting to see Where they go from here yeah I bet You'll be hearing back from them again Sooner rather than later so my deal of The week was actually a larger round so It was a $27.5 million series a but it Caught my attention for a couple of Reasons it was a startup based out of Kentucky for one we rarely get to cover Startups out of Kentucky and I always Really love covering raises or companies That are outside of the traditional Tech Or startup hubs they don't get enough

Attention in my opinion this one's Called pay HOA and I bet you can guess It has a business related to HOA Specifically it's software that is Designed for self-managed Homeowner Associations to help them just it kind Of acts as a central hub for like the Members who handle finances maintenance Requests communication with their Communities so first off if you've ever Had to deal with HOAs you know it can be A real big pain in the you know what so Having an HOA that has software that Helps them better manage everything as a Person who has to deal with them seems Great and they're growing a lot another Thing that caught my attention about This company and this always interests Me it's been bootstrap for six years Before I decided to raise venture Capital and it's profitable profitable And bootstrapped and based out of Kentucky and growing all these things Caught my attention so okay I'll stop Talking for now there's a really Interesting thing about that and you Know when I'm talking to Founders Especially Founders who are outside the Major Tech hubs like it's great that They are bootstrapped and a lot of the Time they kind of have to be right Because they they're really struggle to Get the attention of the investors until They show like Hey we're doing something

Really important here and the most Important way you can show that is with Traction right so being bootstrapped Being profitable showing all these Things now they're at a place we're like Hey we understand what our customer base Is if we now go and raise almost $30 Million we know what the next few steps Are that makes for a really powerful Story when you're out there pitching Right that's a great point the company Says it grew 70% year-over-year Revenue Last year has more than 652 th000 users In fact one of our reporters commented That he was familiar with it and it Worked fine so that just goes to show You that it is prevalent and prices are Pretty reasonable it seems like they Start at $49 per month for HOAs with 25 Units or or less so not a surprise that This would attract the attention of Investors personally if I were an Investor I would be drawn to something Like this think about all the startups AI included and specifically that are Just bleeding cash don't have much Revenue really just burning like crazy And they're are raising hundreds of Millions of dollars okay I mean to me This seems like a much better bet yeah And I was going to say similar to what Ha said earlier about a lot of the Companies outside these traditional hubs Generally end up being profitable or

Bootstrapping before taking VC I've Definitely noticed that especially more Recently that I'm talking to a lot more Companies at the earlier stages who are Profitable than I was a couple of years Ago and I just think I totally agree With you Maryann in the sense of like if You're a venture investor coming in You've got this company that's like We're profitable which means people are Paying for this because people want this It's like you couldn't really get a Better example of product Market fit Like the product fits enough that people Are buying it the company's profitable And bringing some money to scale and the Only other thing I'll mention that I Thought was super interesting was about The CEO he must have a thing for Starting like Niche accounting type or Not accounting but like Niche like Management business I saw the other he Started was focused on fraternity and Sority financial management as someone Who is in a sority that would have been Really helpful right yeah I love it he Has a finance degree he he started two Other companies the one you mentioned And another called file 99.org and they Both sold to another company and Together work in 2018 also another thing That caught my attention here by the way Elephant Ventures LED this round I don't Know if I mentioned that but you talked

About product Market fit and he said That's exactly why The company decided to raise outside Capital for the first time he felt like It had reached a critical inflection Point found product Market fit was Growing really fast and decided you know Having that additional capital and some Investor guidance could help guide the Business to the next level the Interesting thing that pops to my mind Is like what is the upper bounds of this Market like there's a lot of HOAs out There for sure but if you're starting to Charge $50 a month to HOAs I am Struggling to see how this is a truly Venture skill business bus so it's going To be really interesting to see how this Shakes out and whether this turns out to Be a good investment for the investors Right I have no doubt that this could be A very profitable business that can grow Quite a bit but could it be a Multi-billion dollar company I just Don't know so I'll definitely keep an Eye on this one my Counterpoint to that Would be I don't know the exact number On top of my head but the vast majority Of new homes built in the US last year Were built into HOA communities which is Frustrating as someone who plans on Buying a weird looking house and stuff Like that but it is and I think the Majority of new homes unfortunately do

Get built into HOA communities which is At least a good sign I agree with you of Course there's a cap to stuff like this But it does it's a good sign for a Potential market and to be a contrarian I don't think every company has to be a Multi-billion dollar business to be Successful it could still be really Successful and maybe even exit in Another way so that investors might Still get a good return oh I'm gonna Have to pick a fight with you on that One basically if if a business cannot be A multi-billion dollar business it just Doesn't fit the Venture model right like If it doesn't fit into the the overall Thing that Venture capitalists need to Do remember that most of the VC funded Companies fail so a hit needs to at Least have a possibility of being a Massive hit Becca just kind of shot me Down on that one maybe it's a much Bigger opportunity than I thought but Yeah I think like if you're out there Raising money and you don't have a fair Shot at being a multi-billion dollar Company VC is not for you well we'll see Right we'll see what happens with I mean Let's do a side bet on this one I'm in Let's check in with them in about a year You want the exact numbers 66% of newly Completed homes in 2022 were part of HOA Communities which compares to 177% in 2011 okay I changed my mind I'm all in

That's a lot wow I sit lazily corrected That's a lot thanks for that Becca so After the break we'll be digging into Ai's very very busy week both open Ai And Google had major announcements and And we'll dig into that after this short Break what's next in Tech that's not the Right question it's where Puerto Rico Where an entrepreneurial ecosystem Pulses with connectivity capability and Possibility where the most competitive Tax incentives in the US FastTrack Success and hard work is rewarded with Sunsets and turquoise Waters if you Believe your business can go anywhere Puerto Rico is the place invest pr.org [Music] TechCrunch so hi you mentioned earlier On in the show Elon Musk tweeted out a Video that you created for TechCrunch at Google IO what was this video about why Did it get so much attention so I did a Really silly thing basically at towards The end of the show they made a point on Stage like hey we've just mentioned AI 120 times and of course then the ticker Went up to 121 and you know that is a Lot of AI in a two-hour span and I had This hairbrained idea which was what if I took the two-hour keynote and edited Out everything that wasn't the word AI So in 50 seconds you hear people go ai Ai ai ai ai but you know it's just a Reminder of how incredibly AI focused a

Tech giant like Google is right now and They're not the only ones everybody's Like all in on AI yeah one thing that I Noticed this week about open Ai and Google's announcements is there were a Lot of similarities in what they Announced right one of the things that They were talking about is how their Bots can now do things like actually Answer questions in real time which Wasn't capable before I can't keep up It's too much I mean there's a lot going On one of the things like chat gbt Always had this voice mode but now it's G i always say this wrong GPT 4 oh Supercharges that right so now us users Can actually interact with it more like An actual assistant than just a passive Exchange I guess so interesting to think About that cuz it's like I always see These updates and I go oh like not for Me like I've never used chat gbt I'm Probably like the only person who works Here that probably will just like get me Fired for saying that but I do think It's funny like talking to it like an Assistant and stuff and I'm like well I'm the kind of person where if you send Me a long voice memo text I will respond To it like we're having a conversation Cuz I will forget it's not an actual Conversation so yeah all this stuff is So cool but it's like is it just me who Can't find use cases for these things I

Know everyone uses this but I'm like Like what is the extent of features like People are actually looking for yeah Because it's upgrading its Vision Capabilities too so for example if you Provide a photo or like a desktop screen It can do things like answer questions Like what's going on in the software Code or what brand of shirt is it's Person wearing stuff like that well and Assisted Vision stuff if you walk if you Say hey just say what you see and point Your camera out into the world it will Give a running commentary of what you See hey the light just turned green oh There's a bus coming like that's kind of Thing it is truly incredible to see all Of that in action I have spent a lot of Time creating AI tools and you know I am A nerd I love coding and I just upgraded A bunch of the tools I built to chat GPT 40 it is extraordinary what a big leap Forward that was chat GPT 4 was always Good but it was very slow and the speed Increase is like it's almost real time It is absolutely spooky how fast that Thing is now I was talking to Steve Blan A while back and he was saying look we Are finding flaws in this technology but It's been around for five years it's Like reviewing a toddler right it's like Right we are so early in this stage and We're seeing Leaps and Bounds of of Improvement I think the early adopters

To people who are curious have had their Curiosity scratch I think we're about to See a step into where people who are Mainstream who don't really have an Interest in AI for the sake of Technology are now seeing real benefits Driven use cases for AI and I think That's going to get real interesting I Think so too and I mean Gemini live Which is Google's new AI experience also Says you know users can have these In-depth voice chats with Gemini on Their smartphones and like you said can See and respond to surroundings which is Crazy and kind of spooky to me like that Just makes me feel sort of weird to Imagine you know that Gemini could see And respond to where I am what I'm doing But I think that's mostly through photo Or a video but another thing that is Interesting about what Gemini is doing Is it can analyze summarize and answer Questions about really long documents And when I say really long I'm talking About up to 1,500 pages so that kind of caught my Attention because I'm not a big I admit It Becca too I'm not like a big user of Either of these things but to give it a Document that's super long and have it Summarize and analyze it for me now that Super appealing I didn't actually know How much data it could take so that's Really interesting now I want to feed it

The entire Bible and see if we can get a Wrap Opera back that's my next project Just feed infinite Dr into it no no no The poor thing let's not do that to it Make it learn on that what do you think This means for startups though all this Innovation by the the big companies I Think it's super interesting I think for A hop minute there everybody was putting AI into everything right and they saw oh This is what we're doing now this is the Opportunity I think a lot of the large Companies are doing the Pix and shovel Stuff like Nvidia building the chips all The people building the large language Models and that kind of thing where Startups are able to innovate is if they Can add something that the large Companies can't that's actually a really Big challenge right I mean especially When it costs this much money and you Need this much Firepower to train a new Uh language model it becomes really Challenging to add something meaningful But the other thing is a lot of the Startups now are just saying look we can Use this technology to improve something We're already doing and a lot of the Companies are starting to integrate Generative Ai and AI based analysis and That kind of stuff into their own Workflows that does make you an AI Startup to be clear but I think it's Like you'd be crazy not to use it as a

Tool and as these tools get better and Cheaper things are going to get really Interesting I also think there's just a Lot of opportunity for startups to kind Of focus on similar to what we're Talking about a little bit with P Earlier it's the areas that maybe aren't A good fit for a Google or an open AI to Really come in and own like I think About I've talked to a couple companies Who do like very vertical specific AI Like closed loop systems whether it's Stuff related to like the legal system Or we had a company I found a few months Ago that uses AI systems to essentially Like help make like benefit applications Easier like reading through the Documents making sure you have the right Stuff like things like that like Google Would have no business well I mean they Would maybe have a different answer but Why would they get into legal document Clos Loop AI like it's like there's a Lot of areas where I think startups can Come in and own really well and that the Big companies it would be like a part of Their business that I just don't know if They would necessarily be nimble enough To like spend enough time and attention Doing that small vertical approach or if It would even make sense for them at all Yeah the question becomes what can this Company add that is unique enough that Another company can't swoop in and eat

Their lunch I think that's going to be a Really big challenge like everybody can Access a whole bunch of legal documents Legal documents is a particularly Interesting one because a lot of that is Public right you can scrape a court and Get hundreds and hundreds of thousands Of documents and train an AI on that Well so can anybody else so it becomes Kind of a what is the magic Source Either um unique data set or something That a startup can do that sets them Apart from every other startup to do This yeah the question at the end of the Day is is Google or Microsoft or open AI Are they going to invent AI to track Birds and win turbes and if not we still Have USS for startups absolutely but I Think the key thing here becomes you Could also start a startup feed a lot of Pictures of birds into an AI and have Something there right Google isn't going To solve the niche problem but you still Have all the other startups that could Fight here so the question becomes what Is the unique selling point or what is The unique thing about this startup cuz Once this company comes out if they have No defendability the challenge becomes What is going to stop 30 other startups From doing it slightly better slightly Different slightly whatever and I think In the process of Defending Your it becomes a real challenge for

Startups yeah and there were some other News for example some personal changes We had open ai's co-founder and longtime Chief scientist left the company which Was kind of a big deal but that Personnel Chang is not the only type of Departure we're seeing this year we've Had a ton of movement in the Venture Capital world with VC's left and right Leaving firms Becca you've dug into this What is going on why are so many VCS Leaving their firms and what the heck Are they doing next this has been really Interesting to watch this year because Of course any Market anytime you do see VCS move around to some extent but the Most common move you see is someone at a Firm who either leaves to launch their Own or who hits a point where they take A job at a different fund where they Would be able to sort of take that next Step that would just take them much Longer where they were but what's Particularly interesting about this year Is we're seeing a lot of big names that We know switch funds and these are People who are not at the associate at The vice president level these are People who are Partners General Partners In some cases keyman on different funds And they are leaving either to start own Funds or we've had a couple cases of Miles Grimshaw and Keith rid being Boomerangs going back to Old funds there

At before which is something we don't Generally see very often so the fact That we're seeing so much movement we're Seeing like little trends like that Appear is super interesting the other Thing that's crazy about this is yes People spend out of firms to launch Their own that's not new to this Specific batch of VCS but the startup Market right now is terrible for that Like fundraising was so bad in 2023 for Venture funds and especially emerging Managers and this year from the LPS I've Talked to sort of throughout the first Couple months of the year they actually Think this year might be worse so it's Very interesting that we're not only Seeing this much movement but seeing so Much movement with people going to Launch things that it's just really not A good time for yeah that's it feels Bold I'm wondering what their thinking Is why they feel like they want to try To do something so venturous at a time Like this I find that curious as well We've seen at least let's see Vic sing Left Inc Ventures after 15 years to Launch a new firm of his own Ethan kwell Left his role as a partner at bester Venture Partners after 16 years to Launch an early stage focused investment Firm along with Christina Shen who left Andrees Horwitz after four years and Mark Goldberg who left index Ventures

After eight years last fall yeah the Other thing that I think is interesting Too and you just touch on a bit is that We're seeing people who founded firms Leaving to found a firm which is so I'm Of course like you get and I know he we Were talking about this a bit but of Course it's like when you're at a fund And you have LP Capital there are Agreements of kind of like where you're Going to be investing and of course LPS Don't really love if you just go off the Rails or break those agreements or Things like that so there of course is Reasoning behind leaving a fund to start One even if you did launch the one that You're currently at but it's definitely Not one we see as often I think one of The interesting things is that founders Of venture funds often get locked into An investment thesis right and so you go To your LPS you raise your money you use That thesis to raise the money and say Hey our idea is that there's a ton of Money to be made here now VCS by their Nature are very future focused and They're spending all this time thinking About what the future is going to look Like and my suspicion is that for so These folks either they just got bored Of investing what they invested in I Mean people get bored but the other Possibility is that they want to test Out a new thesis or they've spotted an

Even bigger opportunity somewhere else Where they went to their LPS and their LPS are like ah I like where we were Investing and then you're kind of Screwed because you're not like you Can't really invest off thesis that is Generally not a great idea for for a VC And some LPA uh limited partner Agreements means that maybe there's a Vice clause or maybe there's a hey you Only invest in this geographic region or Maybe you invest only in whatever and if Somebody says hey I'm seeing a massive Opportunity in defense Tech well if That's one of the things that's Specifically in the LPA that you can't Invest in there is not that much you can Do other than raise a separate side fund Or start a new fund and the other thing That people don't talk about a lot is That within the GP entity these Partnerships can become very contentious And sometimes I can totally see that Somebody goes you know what screw this I'm out I want to start over I'm done Fighting in these deal flow meetings and In these strategy meetings about what we Actually want to do with this firm so I Kind of get it and of course nobody's Going to come out and say that out loud To a journalist but I through back Channels there's a little bit of that Going on at the moment I think yeah I'm Sure we won't always know the Back

Stories behind what really is the reason For these BCS leaving their firms I mean So far we've had about 12 of these High-profile departures this year of Course that's only what we know of There's probably been more that we don't Even know of probably also many more Departures of Partners or Associates That maybe aren't as higher level or Higher profile that are happening yeah And I think the other really interesting Thing is it's going to get brutal for Emerging fund managers to raise their Second fund the stirrings Out Among LPS Right now is things are going to get Ugly that has several KnockOn effects For one thing if you're a Founder Raising series a that's going to get Real tricky if you're raising growth Funding it's going to get even harder But it also means that emerging fund Managers might be looking at their Future and going hey I'm going to Struggle to raise my next fund maybe I'm Going to start positioning myself into Somewhere where my future doesn't look Quite as Bleak and I was just going to Say the thing that kind of moves this Forward is with seeing all of this Movement I know there is a VC tweeting About this last week but talking about How if you are a founder and you get a Fund to invest in you and maybe you get A partner to join your board and that

Partner leaves that fund what happens It's like you're now your Champion your Cheerleader the person you've been using As a sounding board now is somewhere Else but the money you have in the bank Is from their previous firm so I think As we keep seeing these things continue To happen cuz I mean I don't doubt we're Done at this point I'm sure we're going To see some more movement this year It'll be kind of interesting to see the The 6 months the 12 months down the line Of what this means for startups yeah for Sure I mean we could probably talk about This for another few hours but we're Going to have to leave it there Equity Will be back on Monday with another news Roundup and Pitch dick tear down from Haa his tear Downs are awesome so Definitely tune in for that until then You can find me on X at Bay Area Rider Haa haa which is spelled h a j e and Equity under the handle Equity pod on X And threads Becca anything listeners Should be looking out for on found of Course found as most of you know is our Interview format show where we bring on Founders who talk about why they built Their companies we have the next two Episodes that are coming out they come Out of Tuesdays one is a very fun Company that does food as medicine as a Service they are if you liked learning About pay Ho's bootstrapping to raising

Venture money Journey you will like this One as well and then after that we have A very fun AI company that a lot of People have been talking about on the Week after so definitely stay tuned your Interviews are awesome can't wait to Tune in to them so you guys don't miss Them as well we'll talk to you on Monday Thanks for listening Bye Equity is produced by Teresa Lo Conso with editing by Kell Bryce Durban Is our illustrator and we'd like to give A big thanks to our audience development Team and Henry pet who manages Tech Crunch audio products thanks so much for Listening and we'll talk to you next Time