Castelion Hypersonic Missiles and Crunchbase’s AI Powered Predictions | E2088
This Week in Startups is brought to you by…
Squarespace. Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST
LinkedIn Jobs. Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist
AdQuick. Visit https://adquick.com/twist and mention TWIST to get $1000 off your first campaign.
Today’s show: Jason interviews Bryon Hargis, CEO of Castelion, about the United State’s hypersonic technology gap with China, how we’re catching up and what it will take to win the hypersonic missile race. Alex interviews Jager McConnell, CEO of Crunchbase, about their newly released, scary accurate, AI powered predictive models.
Timestamps:
(0:00) Episode teaser(1:14) Introduction of Byron Hargis and Castellion's mission(2:20) Significance of hypersonic munitions(5:55) Impact and challenges of hypersonic systems in defense(7:16) Castellion's development and cost of hypersonic weapons(9:39) Squarespace. Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST(12:28) Shift in defense contracting and venture backing(18:25) Sales strategies and founder insights in defense startups(19:38) LinkedIn Jobs. Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist(21:10) China's manufacturing capabilities and defense paradigm shifts(24:37) Role of automation and robots in manufacturing(28:58) AdQuick. Visit https://adquick.com/twist and mention TWIST to get $1000 off your first campaign.(31:37) Crunchbase's transition to predictive insights(38:01) Crunchbase's technology stack and AI models(41:36) Financial implications of AI-first model for Crunchbase(48:43) AI integration challenges and financial performance(52:50) AI-driven predictions and their accuracy(54:24) Future prospects for Crunchbase: Acquisition vs. IPO(55:22) Upcoming guests: Vlad from Robinhood and Raul from Superhuman
Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com
Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
Checkout Castelion:
X: https://x.com/CastelionCorp
Website: castelion.com
Checkout Crunchbase:
X: https://x.com/crunchbase
Website: https://www.crunchbase.com/
Follow Bryon:
X: https://x.com/hargsb
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cbh/
Follow Jager:
X: https://x.com/jagermcconnell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jager/
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
Thank you to our partners:
(9:39) Squarespace. Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST(19:38) LinkedIn Jobs. Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist(28:58) AdQuick. Visit https://adquick.com/twist and mention TWIST to get $1000 off your first campaign.
Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara,Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta,Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis
Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916
AI's $100 billion impact: 2024’s venture capital surge and the road ahead for startups
Today on Equity, Julie Bort sits down with Crunchbase News’ Senior Data Editor, Gené Teare, to dive deeper into the year’s slight growth in investment, which reached $314 billion, up from $304 billion in 2023. The pair explores how AI became a dominant force in the landscape. As Teare puts it, “Tech rides on bubbles. What bubbles tell you is that if everyone's putting dollars into a certain sector, it means there are very big outcomes coming.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
The surge of AI investment and what it signals for the future
The challenges startups face in raising capital, particularly in Series A
Regional concentration of venture funding, especially in the U.S.
What’s next for the IPO market as we look toward 2025
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
839: Double Your Data Salary in 11 Months, with Jess Ramos
Jess Ramos is redefining success in data analytics. As the Founder of Big Data Energy and a Senior Data Analyst at Crunchbase, she’s mastered the art of salary negotiation, built a massive social media following, and turned her passion for data into a thriving personal brand. She reveals how she doubled her salary in under a year, created her own SQL course, and advocates for women in STEM.
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.
In this episode you will learn:
(03:42) How Jess got her start in data analytics
(09:14) Why SQL is the most critical skill for data professionals
(11:46) How Jess more than doubled her salary in less than a year
(20:16) Tips for transitioning from a data job to creating your own business
(31:20) The various routes to a career in data science
(39:13) How Jess challenges STEM stereotypes
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/839
Global startup funding is picking up with AI still in the spotlight
Global startup funding was up 16% in the second quarter, according to Crunchbase data, led by an uptick in mega-rounds. That increase was led, unsurprisingly, by the AI sector. Funding to companies in AI made up 30% of all dollars invested and actually doubled quarter over quarter to $24 billion.
On today's episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Mary Ann was joined by Gené Teare, a Senior Data Editor at Crunchbase and Crunchbase News, to talk through the numbers. Teare is a well-known analyst of the global venture capital market, and was instrumental to Crunchbase’s early life and remains one of its more tenured staffers.
“I was actually quite shocked by the doubling in AI because we're six quarters in from the launch of Chat GPT,” Teare said. “I think part of that is that in venture, things take time to sort of filter through.”
There were also signs that larger M&A deals increased in the second quarter, providing much needed liquidity in a continued dry IPO market.
“We're definitely seeing a stronger M&A environment compared to 2022,” Teare said. “The big expectation is that M&A is going to pick up more significantly and I’m not sure we’ve seen that yet, partly because prices have come down. There's a lot of companies who might realize they're not gonna make it to going public in the next 3 to 5 years…So, I think it has improved but not as much as many in the bench community were wanting or expecting.”
Equity is back on Friday with our weekly news roundup. So come back then!
Before we let you go, some disclosures: We invited Gené on the show because we wanted to get her valuable insights regarding the venture capital markets. We knew she’d be great on the topic, because Mary Ann worked with her for years at Crunchbase. During her tenure at Crunchbase, she was paid partially in stock options, and retains a minor stake in Crunchbase itself. We do our best at Equity to cite the best data source for whatever topic we’re looking at, which means we use Crunchbase data as well as information from its competitors at PitchBook and CB Insights. For instance, we had a PitchBook denizen on the show to chat through Q2 2023 results last year. We think we put together the best possible show for you on its merits alone, but did want to note some professional overlaps right up top.
Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How can venture capital survive a three-year liquidity drop?
This is our interview show, where we sit down with an interesting, knowledgeable guest and dive deep into their favorite topics. For this weekend’s Special Equity Edition, we invited Gené Teare to come back on the podcast. Longtime listeners will recall that we’ve had Gené on a time or two to chat venture capital data with us, and she’s back to do the same this week!
We’re back to dig into Q4 2023 venture capital results and what’s coming up this year. For backing data, here’s Gené’s Crunchbase News author archive, and here are a few posts that I have put out on the same set of topics.
On the show we looked into stages, sectors — including both AI and web3 — and where we are seeing both weakness and strength. Gené was a treat to have on the show, and we’ll have her back this year as 2024 comes into sharper focus.
Equity is back on Monday, so see you in a couple days!
For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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 and more!
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The venture market is overcorrecting
This week Gené Teare from Crunchbase and Crunchbase News joined the podcast. She's a well-known analyst of the global venture capital market, and was instrumental to Crunchbase's early life and remains one of its more tenured staffers.
So, what did the three of us get into? Here's the rundown:
The big picture: What should we think about when we consider the Q3 2023 venture capital market as a whole. (More on Latin America here, Canada here, and global data here from TechCrunch+.) Here's Gené on Q3 data as well.
Stage-level health. Which level of startup maturity is seeing the most capital? The least?
And, venture capital flows around the world. As always, where venture dollars land is nearly as important as their total number for any particular period.
Equity is back on Friday with our weekly news roundup. Chat then!
For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website.
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 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 and more!
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The State of Venture and "MegaRounds" with Crunchbase's Jason Rowley - 4/11/19, 4.57 PM
While I talk about big round raises and startups and venture all the time, we haven’t really done a deep dive into where venture is at at the moment. So, who better to talk to than Crunchbase, and in this case, Crunchbase’s Jason Rowley. Today… the state of venture in 2019, and we especially get into the modern world of megarounds, even hypergiant rounds… raises of $250 million or more. Those never used to happen. They happen all the time now… we just talked about one this week… Softbank contributes to them all the time. How has that changed the landscape, and how has that created or influenced the unicorn ecosystem that is currently being harvested, as it were.
Sponsors:
Capterra.com/ride
Flatironschool.com/techmeme
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices