Episodi

  • Build Mode: Capital is a commodity (but your investor relationships aren’t)

    Build Mode: Capital is a commodity (but your investor relationships aren’t)
    Jan 21 2026
    Today on Equity, we're teaming up with our newest podcast, Build Mode. In this interview, Build Mode host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Ross Fubini of XYZ Ventures and Leslie Feinzaig of Graham & Walker Ventures to pull back the curtain on how VCs build their own go-to-market strategies. They dig into what it’s really like raising a first fund, why founder-market fit applies to investors too, and how the best investor relationships start years before you ever need the money. 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
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    45 min
  • OpenAI and Anthropic are making their play for healthcare, and we're not surprised

    OpenAI and Anthropic are making their play for healthcare, and we're not surprised
    Jan 16 2026
    AI companies are clustering around healthcare and fast. In just the past week, OpenAI bought health startup Torch, Anthropic launched Claude for Health, and Sam Altman-backed MergeLabs closed a $250 million seed round at an $850 million valuation. The money and products are pouring into health and voice AI, but so are concerns about hallucination risks, inaccurate medical information, and massive security vulnerabilities in systems handling sensitive patient data. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into why the AI world is suddenly obsessed with health care, what other products can expect an AI-makeover, and more. Listen to the full episode to hear: How Anthropic's co-work tool could threaten Salesforce and other enterprise software giants Bandcamp’s move against AI, banning AI-generated music from its platform Why fusion energy is heating up, with startups like Type One Energy suddenly raising hundreds of millions The latest on Luminar's bankruptcy and a potential bidding war overits LIDAR assets Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 00:29 - Waymo testing in New York City? 02:13 - Bandcamp bans AI-generated music 04:57 - Luminar's bankruptcy and LIDAR fire sale 10:28 - Type One Energy's fusion funding frenzy 16:10 - AI's healthcare land grab 23:28 - Voice AI deals heat up 25:26 - Anthropic's co-work tool threatens enterprise software 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
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    33 min
  • The multibillion-dollar AI security problem enterprises can't ignore

    The multibillion-dollar AI security problem enterprises can't ignore
    Jan 14 2026
    AI agents are supposed to make work easier. Instead, they're creating a whole new category of security nightmares. As companies deploy AI-powered chatbots, agents, and copilots across their operations, they're facing a new risk: how do you let employees and AI agents use powerful AI tools without accidentally leaking sensitive data, violating compliance rules, or opening the door to prompt-based injections? Witness AI just raised $58 million to find a solution, building what they call "the confidence layer for enterprise AI." Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan was joined by Barmak Meftah, co-founder and partner at Ballistic Ventures, and Rick Caccia, CEO of Witness AI, to discuss what enterprises are actually worried about, why AI security become an $800 billion to $1.2 trillion market by 2031, and what happens when AI agents start talking to other AI agents without human oversight. Listen to the full episode to hear: How enterprises accidentally leak sensitive data through "shadow AI" usage. What CISOs are actually worried about right now, how the problem has evolved rapidly over 18 months, and what it will look like over the next year. Why traditional cybersecurity approaches don't work for AI agents. Real examples of AI agents going rogue, including one that threatened to blackmail an employee. 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
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    31 min
  • CES 2026 was all about “physical AI” and robots, robots, robots

    CES 2026 was all about “physical AI” and robots, robots, robots
    Jan 9 2026
    After years of chatbots and image generators, AI is finally leaving the screen. At CES 2026, that shift became impossible to ignore. The annual tech showcase in Las Vegas was dominated by "physical AI" and robotics, from Boston Dynamic's newly redesigned Atlas humanoid robot to AI-powered ice makers (yes, really). The companies in attendance clearly want consumers to know: AI isn't just capable of answering questions anymore. It's ready to movecar parts in factories, catchcatching drones with net guns, and dance in automaker booths. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane break down everything we saw at CES 2026 and more deals from the week that caught our eye. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Discord’s rumored IPO, years after shutting down a Microsoft acquisition xAI's massive $20 billion raise and the dark side of Grok's content moderation failures How Mobileye is getting into the humanoid robotics game with its acquisition of Mentee Robotics OpenAI's potential shift toward audio-first, screenless AI experiences Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Discord's surprise IPO filing 03:24 - xAI's $20B raise amid CSAM controversy 11:06 - Mobileye's pivot to humanoid robotics 14:41 - Physical AI takes over CES 18:31 - Why humanoid robots still don't make sense 24:26 - OpenAI's war on screens and ambient computing 29:56 - Wrap-up 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
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    34 min
  • Investing in the consumer AI products OpenAI ‘won’t want to kill’

    Investing in the consumer AI products OpenAI ‘won’t want to kill’
    Jan 7 2026
    Vanessa Larco, partner at Premise and former partner at NEA, thinks 2026 will finally be the year of consumer AI. Larco, who's been investing in consumer and prosumer for years, thinks we're about to see a shift in how consumers spend time online, with AI powering “concierge-like” services. The question is, will legacy consumer products like WebMD and TripAdvisor continue to exist as standalone apps, or will they just get absorbed into ChatGPT or Meta AI? And where can startups carve out an AI-powered niche for themselves? Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan sat down with Larco to talk about why consumer is back, what OpenAI won't kill, and where the real opportunities are hiding. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Why Larco thinks OpenAI won't build marketplace businesses that require managing real humans. Larco’s take on "disposable software" and why AI apps “should be treated like Word docs.” How Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses turned Larco into a believer in voice interfaces (and why she thinks screens are optional for most tasks). More predictions for 2026, including another huge year for M&A. What new business models stablecoins could unlock. 00:00 - Introduction 00:53 - Why founders are excited about consumer again 04:40 - The moat against OpenAI: Managing real humans 09:22 - Apps as disposable as Word docs 12:48 - Social media in the AI era 18:48 - Meta Ray-Bans and why wearables are actually good 23:35 - Stablecoins and consumer fintech opportunities 26:54 - M&A predictions for 2026 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
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    32 min
  • How AI is reshaping work and who gets to do it, according to Mercor's CEO

    How AI is reshaping work and who gets to do it, according to Mercor's CEO
    Jan 2 2026
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    25 min
  • Fizz CEO on why anonymous social is winning with Gen Z

    Fizz CEO on why anonymous social is winning with Gen Z
    Dec 31 2025
    Fizz is betting that Gen Z is tired of performing their lives on Instagram and TikTok. What started as a pandemic-era group chat frustration has turned into the dominant social platform on college campuses across the US, focused on the 99% of life that doesn't make it into a highlight reel. Capturing the attention of a demographic typically glued to Instagram and TikTok, the app's hybrid anonymous model and hyperlocal focus has made it what Solomon calls "the biggest college social app since Facebook.” Today we're bringing you a conversation that Dominic Madori Davis had with Fizz’s co-founder and CEO Teddy Solomon from this year's Disrupt, digging into why he thinks social media stopped being social. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why Solomon thinks Instagram and TikTok became pure entertainment platforms, and why that created an opening How Fizz uses 7,000 volunteer student moderators plus AI to keep the platform safe The company's expansion strategy beyond college and what "Global Fizz" actually means Solomon’s case for why New York is a better place to build a consumer company than San Francisco 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 - Introduction 01:34 - What broke in social media 04:03 - Building for the 99% of life 07:29 - Content moderation at scale 11:16 - The risks of anonymous social 13:22 - Pandemic origins and IRL community 16:49 - Why the company moved to New York 19:45 - Scaling with "arguably the most retentive social product in history" 21:32 - Almost getting arrested at Pepperdine…for donuts 26:09 - The future of social media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    33 min
  • Equity's 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC

    Equity's 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC
    Dec 26 2025
    TechCrunch's Equity crew is bringing 2025 to a close and getting ahead on the year to come with our annual predictions episode! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan were joined by Build Mode host Isabelle Johansson to dissect the year's biggest tech developments, from mega AI funding rounds that defied expectations to the rise of "physical AI," and make their calls for 2026. The group tackles everything from why AI agents didn't live up to the hype in 2025 (but probably will in 2026), to how Hollywood will push back against AI-generated content, to why VCs are facing a serious liquidity crisis. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why world models are the next big thing in AI and how they're different from large language models The death of "stealth mode" for AI startups and the rise of alternative funding sources Predictions on regulatory chaos around AI policy and what Trump's recent executive order means for startups Hot takes on IPOs: Will OpenAI and Anthropic actually go public in 2026? Rapid-fire predictions including Johnny Ive and Sam Altman's inevitable public breakup, the return of dumb phones, and why everyone will be calling themselves "AI native" What's coming in Build Mode season 2: A deep dive into team building, hiring, and finding co-founders 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 - Introduction 01:43 - Rating our 2025 predictions 04:19 - Funding in the bubble era 06:35 - World models and the future of AI 09:05 - The year of AI agents (for real this time) 11:58 - Physical AI everywhere 15:19 - AI meets Hollywood 16:25 - Regulatory chaos and federal preemption 18:34 - The liquidity crisis and LP direct investing 22:19 - IPO predictions for 2026 23:57 - Startup trends for 2026 27:06 - Buzzwords we're sick of hearing 28:15 - Rapid fire predictions 32:50 - What's next for Build Mode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    35 min