Equity
TechCrunch, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, Sean O'Kane, Theresa Loconsolo
The intersection of technology, startups, and venture capital touches everything now. That’s why Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast, digs into the business of startups for entrepreneurs and enthusiasts alike. Every Wednesday and Friday, TechCrunch reporters keep you up-to-date on the world of business, technology, and venture capital. Equity is ranked the No.2 podcast in the Top 100 Venture Capital All time leaderboard on Goodpods—As well as No.17 for the Top 100 Finance All time chart and No.32 for the Top 100 Business News All time chart.
Episodes
Mentioned books
6 snips
Mar 4, 2026 • 29min
How PopSockets broke the VC-backed consumer hardware mold
David Barnett, founder and former CEO of PopSockets and a former philosophy professor, built a global phone-grip brand without institutional VC. He talks about funding the company from unexpected sources, surviving manufacturing crises, standing up to Amazon at huge cost, beating counterfeits through brand power, and choosing a successor who fit the company culture.
40 snips
Feb 27, 2026 • 23min
Who's really running AI? Inside the billion-dollar battle over regulation, with Alex Bores
Alex Bores, a New York Assembly member with a computer science background who sponsored the RAISE Act and runs for Congress, discusses the clash over who controls AI and the flood of political money aimed at shaping rules. He outlines the RAISE Act's basic demands, fights over state versus federal power, super PAC influence, and upcoming bills on training data, provenance, and a national AI framework.
33 snips
Feb 25, 2026 • 33min
Is crypto growing up? Tether risk, Stripe’s stablecoin play, and the GENIUS Act explained
Jacquelyn Melanick, CEO of Token Relations and former TechCrunch crypto reporter, breaks down crypto’s latest shifts. She talks ETH Denver’s cooling scene. She covers policy noise around the GENIUS and Clarity bills. She explains Stripe’s quiet stablecoin moves and Tether’s reserve risks. She maps where startups and venture dollars are actually headed.
90 snips
Feb 21, 2026 • 43min
Build Mode: Compensation, culture, and cap tables with Yuri Sagalov, GeneralCatalyst
Yuri Sagalov, Managing Director at General Catalyst and former YC partner, shares startup playbook wisdom. He breaks down cap table design, the three investor types to watch, how much seed dilution is healthy, and why early hires deserve bigger equity. Short, practical conversations on co-founder splits, compensation conversations, and when to scale.
18 snips
Feb 20, 2026 • 33min
Why creators are ditching ad revenue for chocolate bars and fintech acquisitions
Creators are moving beyond ad dollars into product lines, acquisitions, and fintech deals. The conversation covers one-startup dating apps aiming to scale from campus and new transformer hardware fueling AI data centers. They also dig into India's big AI infrastructure push and whether AI video tools will flood creativity or lift everyone.
23 snips
Feb 18, 2026 • 32min
Google Cloud's VP for startups on reading your "check engine light" before it's too late
Darren Mowry, VP of global startups at Google Cloud, helps founders build on Google Cloud and AI platforms. He talks about TPU vs GPU tradeoffs, surprising cloud cost spikes and how to spot “check engine” warning signs for scaling. He also explores which AI verticals are heating up like biotech, climate tech, developer tools and world models.
53 snips
Feb 13, 2026 • 39min
AI burnout, billion-dollar bets, and Silicon Valley's Epstein problem
Conversation covers the AI talent exodus at major labs and what high turnover means for the competition. They unpack massive raises for humanoid robotics and who might actually deploy them. Fusion startups' billion-dollar bets and audacious timelines get scrutiny. Reporting on Epstein-linked players in Silicon Valley dealmaking and its effects on EV-era investments rounds out the discussion.
53 snips
Feb 11, 2026 • 30min
Glean’s fight to own the AI layer inside every company
Arvind Jain, founder and CEO of Glean and former Google search engineer, explains how his company moved from enterprise search to an AI work assistant and platform. He discusses owning the AI layer inside companies. Short takes cover integrations, permissions-aware governance, competition with big tech, realistic agent use cases, and how AI reshapes org design.
66 snips
Feb 10, 2026 • 30min
This Sequoia-backed lab thinks the brain is 'the floor, not the ceiling' for AI
Aidan Smith, former Neuralink engineer bringing neuroscience-inspired ideas to AI. Benjamin Spector, co-founder focused on creative, first-principles research and commercialization planning. Asher Spector, research-first builder working on data-efficient training. They discuss making models learn more like humans, bets behind a research-first lab, and what radical data efficiency could unlock for new AI capabilities.
Feb 6, 2026 • 39min
How far will Elon Musk take the ‘everything’ business as SpaceX and xAI merge?
They unpack Elon Musk merging his space and AI companies and what a personal tech conglomerate might look like. They cover Waymo’s huge $16B raise and Alphabet’s stake in an eventual IPO path. They dig into the race to challenge NVIDIA with new chip plays and Positron’s big bet. They also highlight ElevenLabs’ leap beyond voice AI and broader consolidation trends in the AI industry.
