TechCrunch Live had some amazing shows over the last few months. I know it’s hard to keep up. Every Wednesday, at 12:00 pm PDT, the live event features top founders and investors talking through issues facing their industries right now. The interviews are led by top TechCrunch editors (and me). If you can’t make the live shows, they’re available on YouTube for viewing and the podcasts embedded here.
I’d love to have you watch the events live. You can register for this week’s show here.
Identity and identifying a good deal
Today’s interview was led by TechCrunch Global Managing Editor Ingrid Lunden. Ingrid spoke to Rick Song, one of the co-founders of Persona, which built and offers a large suite of identity verification solutions to address the ever-growing issue of identity fraud. Joining Rick is Mark Goldberg of Index Ventures, a firm that made a prescient move to spot and back Persona early on.
Mark and Rick spoke to us about:
- How Persona keeps pace with AI Verification and Online Trust
- How Index Ventures is riding on the wave of the startup’s growth
- And the unique and complex issues that come to the public’s mind with AI
How Cambrian BioPharma is reinventing drug — and drug company — development
Matt Burns spoke to James Peyer, the co-founder of Cambrian BioPharma, and Maryanna Saenko, co-founder and partner at Future Ventures. Cambrian BioPharma is a new pharmaceutical startup with a revolutionary approach to developing and managing drug development age-related diseases.
What we’re most interested in, though, is how Cambrian’s executive team attracts and retains top talent. (Spoiler: They give them an oversized amount of equity compared to traditional pharmaceutical companies.)
James and Maryanna spoke to us about:
- Developing therapeutics for anti-aging in a way that works with the existing regulatory structure
- How James and Maryanna solve the “venture capital math problem”
- But first we spoke on moving research from academia to the real world and fighting misconception and buzzwords around longevity biotech
Who’s playing the long game in edtech?
Today’s interview was led by TechCrunch Senior Reporter and edtech expert Natasha Mascarenhas. Natasha spoke to Sam Chaudhary, the founder of ClassDojo, who spent eight years building the edtech consumer app that focuses on student classrooms, before introducing a formal revenue model. Joining Sam is his investor Chris Farmer, the founder and CEO of SignalFire, a seed-stage venture firm that recently raised $900 million across four new funds.
Sam and Chris spoke to us about:
- How Sam played the long-game in edtech and what he’d do differently if he had to do it all over again
- Why SignalFire chose to navigate the edtech space, specifically the connection between kids and consumers
- How Chris sees investing in companies that aren’t rushing to monetize
- The “outsider advantage” and its tension with insider knowledge
Managing uncertainty with Habi and Inspired Capital
Matt Burns spoke to Brynne McNulty Rojas, who’s the co-founder and CEO of Habi, the hot real estate startup out of Colombia which reached unicorn status last year. Brynne founded Habi to bring modern home buying tools to low- and middle-class home buyers in her home country of Colombia. Now, with a valuation above $1 billion USD, Habi is a serious player in the LatAm home buying market, where the majority of the homes for sale are not listed online. Joining Brynne in this conversation is Mark Batsiyan, a co-founder and partner at Inspired Capital.
Brynne and Mark spoke to us about:
- Habi’s growth and what it was like to work with U.S.-based investors
- How Brynne built her team’s confidence during a period of uncertainty
- The value of transparency and sharing vulnerability
- And advice to founders raising in today’s market
AI innovation for in vitro fertilization with Root Ventures and Oma Fertility
Today’s interview was led by Neesha Tambe, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield editor who’s also largely responsible for the hundreds of startups pitching and exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt. But she’s here today because of her personal experience with I-V-F. Neesha spoke with Oma Robotics co-founder Kiran Joshi and Root Ventures partner Chrissy Meyer. Unlike many other fertility providers, Oma focuses on male infertility, and today we’re going to hear about a few things:
- Oma Fertility’s experience building a company in healthcare during a global pandemic
- How Root made the jump to virtual-first investments, which is now the new norm
- And how founders can craft their story and stand out in a crowded market
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