Halloween in July, mafias, rockets and Matt Mullenweg

ProWellTech is more than just a site with words. We’re also building a growing stable of podcasts focused on the most critical topics relating to the startup and venture capital worlds. To help you find the right show for your interests, we’ve compiled our audio output from the week.

Embedded below is the latest from Chain Reaction, our stellar crypto-focused podcast hosted by Lucas and Anita. You will also find Found, a long-form bit of work that goes deep on the real saga of company formation, from Jordan and Darrell. There’s an audio-only version of ProWellTech Live hosted by Matt that features founders and investors discussing successful pitch decks. Darrell also hosts the ProWellTech Podcast and runs down the latest news featured on ProWellTech. Finally, there’s Equity, ProWellTech’s long-running, Webby-award-winning podcast focused on venture capital and the latest startup news, hosted by Natasha, Mary Ann and Alex.

And if you are more into the written over the spoken word, we have newsletters on the above topics as well.

The ProWellTech Podcast

Episode 8: Rocket Lab rockets to the Moon and other TC news

This week on The ProWellTech Podcast our host, Managing Editor Darrell Etherington, talks with TC’s Amanda Silberling about VidCon and the creator economy coming of age. He also speaks to Aria Alamalhodaei about NASA and Rocket Lab launching a scouting mission for a future orbital moon base. And as always, you’ll get a rundown of the week’s top news on ProWellTech.

Articles from the episode:

Other news from the week:

Chain Reaction

Episode 13: Why crypto’s “obsession” with mass adoption may not be worth it (w/ Tux Pacific)

The ProWellTech Live Podcast

Episode 10: Selling technical services to non-technical customers and investors

Simplicity is desperately needed, Jordan Kretchmer was telling ProWellTech. Jordan’s the co-founder and CEO of Rapid Robotics, a firm that excels at selling its robotic solutions to non-technical customers and investors. His company launched a new service last month that highlights its approach. Called Smart Setup, this clever product gives customers a ridiculous amount of flexibility. Just roll a Rapid Robotics Operator to a new job, and the company says it can be trained to do a new task in under a minute. Simple.

Rapid Robotics CEO Jordan Kretchmer and Bee Partners partner Kira Noodleman a recent the guests on ProWellTech Live. The two are experts on selling technical services, and during this ProWellTech Live event, they walk through their processes. As a partner at Bee Partners, Kira has been pushing this mantra for years. When Jordan was building Rapid Robotics’ early decks, he turned to Noodleman’s past research to develop his straightforward approach.

And we have questions, too: How has fundraising for robotic startups changed in the last two years? How can deep tech startups best position themselves when approaching venture capitalists? What’s a good founder fit for Kira Noodleman and Bee Partners, and how does the firm utilize machine-to-machine learning when investing?

Found

Episode 65: Matt Mullenweg, WordPress (Automattic)

It’s rare we get to speak to someone who has been working at their company for 19 years, so this conversation with Matt Mullenweg of Automattic and WordPress feels a little special. His journey to becoming a founder was grounded in a love for blogging and working on open source projects. Now WordPress is pretty much ubiquitous in the digital publishing world. He talks with Darrell and Jordan about how much different fundraising worked for him, how he has remained such an in-touch leader, and of course his thoughts on web3.

Take our listener survey and let us know a bit about yourself and what you think of Found.

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Equity

Episode 538: Cauldrons, Bolts and sour markets: Welcome to Halloween in July

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

It doesn’t feel like a short week, does it? Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann got on the mic to bring an especially packed episode full of big news, fire transitions and even a pun or three.

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

Episode 537: Why build a tech mafia when you can just build each other?

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex asked: Why is tech full of copycats, and what’s the next full circle moment we can expect?

The question was inspired by Natasha’s recent Startups Weekly column: “YC makes a Product Hunt, Product Hunt makes an a16z, a16z makes a YC.” As you can tell by that headline and this week’s episode title, we’re talking about how tech is full of copycats and what that means for the bar of innovation.

Expect to learn about the overlap in mission between three of tech’s most well-known institutions, what Prologue means for Future (literally and figuratively) and how a rising tide can both confuse and complement the founder fundraising journey.

Also it was a good excuse to chat through some of the competitive dynamics that we see play out across the startup landscape. We had a great time, and hope you like the show. We’re back Friday with our regular news roundup!

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

Episode 536: Contrarian bets in a downturn

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

Alex and Grace are back to cover the biggest, boldest and baddest technology news. We are back on Tuesday, as the United States was off yesterday. So a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short, here’s what we got into today:

Stocks are mixed around the world, and set to fall in the United States at the open. At the same time, the crypto market has been somewhat relaxed in the last day.
Sequoia Capital China is raising $9 billion, a huge amount of money at a time in which we have seen venture capital activity in China slow.
Speaking of slowing venture capital, Indian activity is falling. That deceleration comes as the country’s crypto market is under pressure.
At the same time, Twitter is pushing back against the Indian government bullying, which is good. But maybe less good for Elon Musk, who is buying the social network, and wants to sell imported cars in the country.
Closing out, we touched on a potential database breach in China, struggles at Vauld, a new climatetech fund and news from the quantum front.

All that and we had a good time! We are back tomorrow morning, and Friday morning!

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts