This Week in Startups Weekly Recap Jan 24-30

Hey Everybody!

We continued our season of Angel with Packy McCormick of Not Boring, another investor who used the media-first playbook to launch a fund. We had a grand ol' time with TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm talking about Tesla earnings and startups ready to enter the public markets. To close out the week, Molly talked about climate investing with Emily Kirsch of Powerhouse Ventures.

And, we sent Producer Rachel down to Miami Hack Week, she reported back on her trip and did a LIVE interview with one of the leaders of “Tap House.”

If you are looking for some product inspiration, at the end of E1370 Jason put out a request for startups: beautiful interfaces for giant clunky products.

Molly’s Picks of the Week

• Comparing pandemic stocks, crypto and SPACs in 2021-2022 to the Dot-Com IPO bubble (2:11)
• Neil Young vs. Spotify over Joe Rogan’s interviews, we’ll do a follow-up this week since Dan Ek & Spotify came out with a misinformation policy (37:40)
• Our “Yes, No, IPO” game with Alex Wilhelm (57:33)

P.S. “Oh by the way, if anybody knows Satya Nadella send him our way, we'd love to have him on ??”

VC Sunday School: startup investing in a down market + Emily Kirsch of Powerhouse Ventures | E1373

“Fortunes are made in the down market and collected in the up market." This VC Sunday School episode is all about how a down market impacts early-stage investors. You will learn:

1. Risks to VC fundraising when valuations are down

2. If your investing process should vary depending on market conditions

3. How a down market impacts future returns

4. Why founders should have 18 months of runway

5. How founders can turn a down market into an advantage

Then, Molly chats with Emily Kirsch, Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures for a This Week in Climate Startups segment. Emily is a climate investor and they discuss:

1. Why Powerhouse is focused on software

2. Climate change's potential impact on GDP

3. How financial tools enabled the solar revolution

4. Regulations impacting climate investing

5. How different climate tech investors work together

6. The imbalance between climate tech founders and companies

Packy McCormick’s Not Boring parlay: Angel S6 E3 | E1372

In 2021, Packy turned his massive newsletter readership into the $10M “Not Boring Fund I” which he invested in 6 months. In this episode you will learn:

1. How Packy raised his first fund from his readers.?

2. What regulations he needed to navigate to comply with the SEC.?

3. Some of Not Boring’s breakout startups and how IRR can be hilariously large in the early stages of a small fund.

4. How he manages a syndicate and a venture fund while still doing right by LPs.?

$TSLA earnings breakdown & 2022 IPOs to watch with TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm | E1371

Alex is TechCrunch’s S-1 wiz-kid and has great chemistry with the TWIST team (I think Jason wishes he’d join us full time).? This episode was lots of fun.?

We break down the highlights from Tesla's Q4 2021 earnings:

1. Rising Model 3 production
2. Increasing profitability and cash generation
3. Charger network growth

Alex thinks the IPO window is closed for most startups and he explains why in this episode. But we still reviewed 2022's most anticipated IPOs including Discord, Reddit, Stripe, Impossible Foods, Chime and Instacart.

If we missed one you want us to cover (or missed the mark on one above) let us know and we’ll put it on the docket for the coming weeks.?

Comparing 2022 to the Dot-Com bubble | E1368

Due to the volatility in the market, Jason and Molly review the fundamentals of Block, Zoom, Netflix, Coinbase, and AirBnB and compare this correction with the Dot-com crash.? They discuss investing in a downturn, the difference between private and public investors, speculative businesses vs. strong fundamentals and more!

News we covered

• Activist investor Blackwells Capital challenges Peloton leadership?
• TikTok vs. YouTube
• Bolt CEO calls Stripe & YC “Mob Bosses” & a Best of meme review
• Anduril wins $1B contract?
• Startup of the Day: Culdesac
• MSFT earnings breakdown, 20% yoy revenue growth
• Spotify: platform or publisher (we review the Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan guest misinformation debate)
• Scratchpad raises $33M

Best,

Producer Justin

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