Equity

The people deciding that AI can replace your job are also the ones least likely to understand what your job truly involves, according to Box founder Aaron Levie, who pointed to this as an example of "AI psychosis.” Indeed, ClickUp recently cut 22% of its workforcefor AI agents, tech layoffs in 2026 are already nearly matching all of 2025, and DuckDuckGo installs are climbing from users who want Google to stop forcing AI into search and just give them links. 

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what happens when the AI-pilled and the AI-skeptical are both right at the same time, plus three deals worth knowing about and Waymo's new robotaxi hitting the road. 

Listen to the full episode to hear: 


Kirsten's first look at Waymo's new Ojai robotaxi in Phoenix, and the crew's thoughts on the company's path to profitability 


Cloud data storage giant Snowflake’s $6 billion five-year agreement with AWS 


Why Stord, the "anti-Amazon" fulfillment startup, just raised $250 million at a $3 billion valuation 


What OpenRouter's $113 million raise says about the picks-and-shovels layer, and how long that interest lasts 


How the AI agent wave is actually reshaping hiring, not just headcount 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 

Chapters: 

00:00 Intro 

01:18 Waymo's new Ojai robotaxi 

06:41 Stord raises $250M to take on Amazon fulfillment 

12:46 Snowflake signs $6B deal with AWS 

15:39 OpenRouter raises $113M Series B 

20:07 The AI divide & anti-AI backlash 

27:31 AI psychosis & how AI is reshaping headcount and hiring 

37:04 Outro 
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Google I/O made it official: AI-generated answers are now front and center in search, and most brands have almost no visibility into how AI is describing them to their customers. For anyone who has spent years building a strategy around 10 blue links, the rules just changed in a pretty significant way. 

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Matt Thompson, VP of partnerships at Scrunch, a startup positioning itself at the center of the AI search shift, to talk about what Google’s changes mean and marketers and founders should actually do about it. 

Listen to the full episode to hear: 


Why AI referrals are converting at 400% higher than traditional organic search, and what that means for how to think about traffic. 


How ChatGPT still has the lion's share of AI search traffic, and why optimizing only for Google means missing most of the market. 


Why Google's own SEO best practices might be leading marketers in the wrong direction. 


What it actually means to make your website "agent ready" and why most enterprise sites aren't. 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 
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The SpaceX S-1 is finally here, and the story it tells goes way further than rockets. The filing runs to 36 pages of risk factors alone, and the numbers inside match the ambition: a $28 trillion total addressable market, a pay package tied to establishing a Mars colony, and a valuation target that would make it the largest IPO in American history. 

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into what the filing actually says, what it leaves out, and whether any of this math connects to reality. 

Listen to the full episode to hear about: 


Why NanoCo turned down a $20 million buyout to raise a $12 million seed instead 


Anthropic’s acquisition of SDK startup Stainless, and why taking a tool off the table matters as much as the $300 million price tag 


What happened when commencement speakers started talking up AI in front of graduating classes, and why the students weren't having it 


Google’s I/O announcements claiming search as you know it is over, and what the AI makeover could mean for the open web  

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 
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Slapping "AI" on your startup’s pitch deck is basically table stakes right now. When a founder raised $20 million from Cathie Wood's ARK Invest for an eSports gamification loyalty startup without those two letters in the spotlight, it got us wondering how the conversation even started — especially when ARK had already been burned by a company operating in the same space. 

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Julie Bort sits down with Dylan Robbins, founder and CEO of Lucra, the white-label platform turning friendly competitions into loyalty programs for brands like golf courses, arcades, and pickleball clubs. 

Listen to the full episode to hear about: 


How Dylan met his ARK connection over a game of darts at a New York City bar 


Why pitching a non-AI company in peak AI fundraising season meant addressing it head-on, even when it had nothing to do with his business 


How being honest with investors about what wasn't working yet actually helped him close the round 


Why Lucra pivoted from consumer to B2B in 45 days (and why that pivot is what convinced ARK they weren't looking at another Skillz). 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 
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The Musk v. Altman trial came to a close this week, and the final arguments kept circling back to one question: can we trust the people in charge of AI? All of this is playing out as SpaceX charges toward what could be one of the largest IPOs in American history, with a whole generation of founders already spinning out of the Musk empire.

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane break down the trial's closing stretch and what the growing Elon Musk founder ecosystem actually looks like on the ground, and the other deals that caught our eye this week.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:


How Anduril landed a $5 billion Series H, more than doubling the valuation it landed just under a year ago 


Why investors just can’t say no to RJ Scaringe, who’s raked in over $1 billion for Rivian spinout Mind Robotics


How voice AI startup Vapi beat out over 40 other companies to secure a contract handling all of Ring's customer support


What an Anthropic report about an AI agent blackmailing its own developers says about where the industry actually is

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

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