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Good morning! I’m Carine Levy, managing editor of TechCrunch+, and I’m very excited to be here.
We’ve got quite a lineup for you today, starting with some of the key moments from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial. Our reporter Jacqueline Melinek comes to the courthouse every day; You can check out our coverage of the trial here.
Full TechCrunch+ articles are available only to members.
Use discount code tcp plusroundup To save 20% on a one or two year subscription.
This week, Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research and former girlfriend of SBF, took the stand. He explained how he prepared the books to make Almeida’s financial situation appear much cleaner than it actually was. “We were in a bad situation,” he put it perfectly.
Thanks for reading!
carine
Ask Sophie: Can a bootstrapping solo founder get an O-1A?
Image Credit: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
I’m a solo founder who is bootstrapping my startup to the point of traction before even considering raising funding. It seems like you need VC funding to get an O-1A – is this true? Is it possible for me to consider obtaining an O-1A at this stage?
– Bold Bootstrapper
More money won’t fix your failing startup – here’s how to get investors to support a pivot
Image Credit: Miragesi (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
If your startup isn’t seeing the kind of momentum or growth you expect, sometimes the best way to move forward is to really take a detour and see if there’s another need you can fill. .
Sarah Leary, venture partner at Unusual Ventures, says, “If your company is not seeing strong growth with customers eager to use the product and share it with others, it may be time to take the company in a new direction. Could.”
Leary’s advice makes sense, because she’s been a successful pivot before: She co-founded FanBase, a site for fans of various sports to gather on a network and share information. But when that idea didn’t pan out, the team took action and started Nextdoor.
Leary offers five actionable tips that can help founders get it right, and get their investors on board with the new plan.
We asked 52 founders if events are useful or a waste of time
Image Credit: BrianJackson/Getty Images
Events can be a great resource for founders: you network, learn what’s going on in your industry, gain insight into the market, find customers, and much more.
But are they really worth all the money and effort, not to mention the time you could spend actually building your startup?
To find out, Rebecca Szkutak asked founders how they feel about founder-focused events, what they find useful in them and what they think makes them a colossal waste of time.
Deal Dive: The future of social media is vertical
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Social media today is very different from what it was just five years ago. Forget what happened with Difficult to survive.
So it’s not surprising that people are flocking to more focused communities that cater to their interests or give them a place to feel safe in an Internet that is becoming increasingly hateful and divisive.
“Why would someone from a marginalized group scroll through irrelevant content, hate, and bots to find their community, when there is already a dedicated space elsewhere?” Rebecca Szkutak writes.
“For social media investors, it’s likely that future wealth will be at the bottom.”
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Zendesk emerges from last year’s turmoil with a strong outlook
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ZenDesk didn’t look so attractive at the end of 2022: It rejected a $17 billion takeover bid, and its own investors rejected a $4.1 billion offer to buy SurveyMonkey — all in the same month. But with the new CEO at the helm, the present (and future) is looking better and better.
Bedrock Energy believes the solution to decarbonizing skyscrapers lies 1,500 feet underground
Image Credit: Yongyuan Dai/Getty Images
One of my favorite pieces of climate tech is the heat pump, which is at least three times more efficient than traditional heating. I don’t have one in my house, but after a year of major weather events and huge heating bills in the Bay Area, heat pumps are looking better and better. But what about big buildings? Bedrock Energy is betting that underground heat pumps, known as geothermal heat pumps, can help decarbonize heating and cooling for large buildings across the country.
