Foundering

Tech companies face a harsh reality: You're only as good as your latest product. The scramble to identify and lure the best talent has taken recruiters to unusual places. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Lizette Chapman visits a recent hackathon at Stanford, watching as high school and college students code through the night. All the while, corporate representatives and investors are watching, eying the kids who will become future stars.

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A crisis is brewing at the world's largest video service. YouTube has seen big advertisers from AT&T to Wal-Mart pull their ads off the platform over fears that their brand will appear next to offensive or extremist content. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Mark Bergen and Aki Ito plunge into one of the thorniest corners of the modern Internet and ask: How do you police the unwieldy, ever-expanding mess that is the world wide web? Please note: some short examples of offensive material have been included in this episode.

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If you own an iPhone, chances are you've used Apple's App Store to buy and download apps. For years, while iPhones were flying off the shelves, Apple had the power to dictate the rules of how software developers all over the world made those apps-- and made money from them. Now, with the global market for smartphones slowing, the iPhone maker is looking to sweeten its relationship with the 13 million developers it relies on to generate revenue from the App Store. The inner workings of Apple's business are notoriously opaque, but this week Bloomberg Technology's Alex Webb and Brad Stone take you into the world of the developers themselves, to hear what it's actually been like to work with Apple-- and to find out how the world's most valuable company is trying to change that.

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When Amazon opened a warehouse in the Minneapolis suburb of Shakopee last year, a thousand people got new jobs. In return, Amazon got millions of dollars in tax breaks. This week, Spencer Soper visits Shakopee to examine the impact the e-commerce giant has had on the area's residents and businesses. For Shakopee, was it worth the investment? And what happens when cities and states across the country compete against each other to lure big corporations like Amazon, with increasingly bigger subsidies? Spencer and Aki hear from people on both sides as a national debate intensifies over how to create more American jobs.

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Do you ever spend time online watching people compete with each other at playing video games? Perhaps not (yet), but this pastime known as esports is turning into a popular and potentially lucrative category of sports entertainment. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Joshua Brustein meets a team of professional gamers, as well as the team owners (including former NBA star Rick Fox) helping them battle their way to the top of a League of Legends championship. In the process, Josh and Aki explore what it takes to build an esports league from scratch.

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When Jase Wilson launched his startup in Kansas City, Missouri, he didn't intend on leaving. But he struggled to get the funding he needed from local investors, and he decided to try his luck in California. Before long, Jase won the backing of, among others, the movie star Ashton Kutcher. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah McBride visits Kansas City to figure out why Jase, and other founders like him across the country, find it so hard to thrive outside the big coastal tech hubs.

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Ever since it was a tiny startup, Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has been based in the quirky, bohemian Los Angeles beach town of Venice. Now, the social media app maker employs almost 2,000 workers and is about to become a publicly traded company. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah Frier and Aki Ito visit Venice to hear from longtime residents and business owners, some of whom worry they're getting priced out of their neighborhood. They also speak to community members who say the company is doing its best to offset the pains that economic success can bring. As Snap prepares for its March IPO, which will turn some of its young employees into overnight millionaires, tensions are reaching a fever pitch.

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In the past two years, Cuba has started rolling out public access to the internet. Wifi is now available through a network of hotspots-- but access is expensive, and the connection can be patchy and slow. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Pia Gadkari visits Cuba, exploring what life looks like when a country's just starting to get online. Pia and Aki hear from local entrepreneurs how the Internet is helping them grow their businesses, and discuss the potential for U.S. tech companies on the island.

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On his eighth day in office, President Trump signed an executive order banning the U.S. entry of people from seven Muslim-majority countries. The move sparked outrage from several tech companies, which rely heavily on the talent of skilled foreigners. This week, Bloomberg Technology’s Aki Ito and Olivia Zaleski speak to both tech workers directly affected by this ban as well as company executives who fear the order will hurt their businesses. More restrictions could be on the horizon, and Aki and Olivia discuss what those might mean for the industry.

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More than 1.5 million people drive for Uber in cities all over the world. And yet, as the company finds new ways to make rides cheaper for customers, it's become harder for the app's contractors to make a decent living. This week, Brad visits one of Uber's very first drivers, and, together, they explore the complicated history between the ride-sharing app and its workers. Brad and Bloomberg Technology's startups reporter Eric Newcomer also discuss where that relationship is headed.

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