Honestly, the Kardashian method won’t work for SBF • toptecheasy.com

Hello and welcome back to Equitya podcast about the business of startups, where we unravel the numbers and nuances behind the headlines.

This week, Natasha was accompanied by Mary Ann Azevedo and Rebecca Szkutak to talk about the latest and greatest in technology. Before we get into what we’ve been up to, can we just say how great it is to be back? It feels therapeutic to be back behind the microphone to digest the news in terms of trends and startup events; and we hope you feel the same way.

Without further ado, our show touched on a lot this week:

• Offerings of the week include Inflow, which has developed a self-help app designed to help people manage their ADHD, Cartographic companiesa new venture capital fund led by an ex-Juul operator, and the latest lawsuit and layoffs at Carta.
• The plethora of fintech M&A that happened this week, including Fidelity’s acquisition of a startup called Shoobx (we couldn’t pronounce the name either) and Deel’s buyout of Capbase.
• Microsoft’s deal with ChatGPT OpenAI which, we admit, has a structure that stuns even us. Plus, we talk about how Pittsburgh’s expertise in AI can help boost the startup scene.
• There’s Sam Altman, and then there’s Sam Bankman-Fried, which brings us to our last theme. We talk about SBF’s new Substack, the Kardashian method of distraction, and why the legal world isn’t a fan of levity. As Becca so aptly said, maybe billionaires (or former billionaires) should stop being cute.

We end with a reminder that the toptecheasy.com podcast network is now a machine that produces content on a daily basis from the most diverse hosts in the tech pod world. Proud of our fellow hosts, and for those of you who might be starting resolutions or stacking habits to kick off 2023, please consider giving our other shows a try.

Equity drops every Monday at 10am PT and at 7am PT on Wednesdays and Fridays, so subscribe to us at Apple podcasts, Cloudy, Spotify and all casts. toptecheasy.com also has one great show on cryptoa show founders being intervieweda dat describes how our stories come togetherand more!