Ego-ish and how tech’s main characters are all a bit different

SBF, Elizabeth Holmes and Elon Musk should probably not be used in the same sentence

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 chatted with Alex about ego, how recent news from Sam Bankman-Fried and Elizabeth Holmes gives us a window into how it works, and impacts on the tech and venture landscape.

We talked about:

  • What Holmes and Bankman-Fried have in common, from centralized ownership to a cult of personality
  • The differences between the two entrepreneurs, and why their stories tend to blur together
  • How Adam Neumann, Elon Musk and others fit into the conversation
  • Learning lessons from startups from a chaotic, and main-character-driven year

We have a lot of really fun stuff coming up in the next week or two. Thanks for sticking with Equity in 2022, and we cannot wait for 2023.

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, a show that details how our stories come together and more!