Sunday double-header. First, Jason and Molly discuss the impact of large funds on the startup ecosystem, how fund size influences firm strategy and why big funds often seed smaller funds (2:21). For the This Week in Climate Startups segment, Molly chats with Taj Ahmad Eldridge from Include Ventures (29:42). They discuss:
1. How Taj's experience with negative health impacts from pollution helped guide his investing focus
2. Include Ventures' unique fund of funds and direct investment strategy
3. Why Taj is not afraid of hardware investing (and how it's paying off)
4. How government branches can support climate tech progress

How Big Funds Change the Startup Ecosystem (VC Sunday School) + Climate: Include Ventures’ Taj Ahmad Eldridge | E1407

Every day, Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood cover startups, technology, markets, media, crypto, and the all the hottest topics in business and tech. They also interview the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors and innovators.

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On today's show, Molly and Jason catch up after the long weekend (0:00) before breaking down how the new "Minions" movie broke a box office record by using TikTok, catchy hooks, and viral marketing (5:19). They also cover TikTok dropping plans to expand its ecommerce platform into the US and Europe (29:52), before covering the "Chips Act" stalemate and discussing how we should reframe semiconductor manufacturing and energy independence as national defense issues (35:50).

Links referenced in the show:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.578644/full
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-07-04/chipmakers-and-us-congress-are-playing-a-stupid-game-of-chicken

“Minions” record-breaking viral strategy, TikTok algo, reframing semiconductors & energy | E1500

For today's VC Sunday School, Molly asks Jason about what makes a venture scale business (2:20). Then, for This Week in Climate Startups, Molly sits down with Matt Duesterberg, co-founder of OhmConnect (19:38).

VC School: What’s a venture scale business + Matt Duesterberg of OhmConnect | E1499

First, we cover an update from the BlockFi CEO denying that FTX is buying them for $25N (2:33), and we have a couple more crypto quick hits (5:51) before we touch on Sequoia's largest investments being down 70% (34:01). Klarna is raising way down at a $6B valuation (45:23), Zoom is looking to expand beyond video conferencing, (54:50), and the FCC approved Starlink to supply internet to moving vehicles (57:40). Finally, Rachel speaks with co-founder and CEO of Stages, Jared Downing, for this week's OK Boomer (1:08:23).

Crypto crash updates, Sequoia’s structure, $ZM product expansion, Starlink & more | E1498

First, we talk about Meta’s new Facebook Groups overhaul that looks like Discord (2:35). Then we touch on Sequoia raising over 2 billion for its US venture and growth funds (20:31) and FTX acquiring BlockFi for $25M, 99% below their last private valuation (32:08). For our We Live in the Future, the MLB is looking to automate home plate umpires by 2024 (52:17). Finally, it appears Subtstack is making some cuts after saying it wouldn’t (1:04:48).

FTX buys BlockFi for $25M, Sequoia raising $2.25B, AI Umpires for MLB, Substack layoffs | E1497

Today, Jason is joined by the hosts of “What are your thoughts?” Downtown Josh Brown (CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management) and Michael Batnick (Managing Partner at Ritholtz Wealth Management). They discuss the Knicks (1:22), Podcasting (14:25), markets (26:20), Disney (37:52), and more. Finally, Jason takes some audience questions (44:50).

How Big Funds Change the Startup Ecosystem (VC Sunday School) + Climate: Include Ventures’ Taj Ahmad Eldridge | E1407

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