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Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Music fans revisit their year in music with Spotify Wrapped 2022

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By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Heeeeeey! Couple of fun things we have in the pipeline at the moment…

  1. Did you know we're looking for you and your expertise for our TechCrunch founder summit?
  2. Join us for a free, one-hour webinar on Thursday, December 8 and learn about "Building a Compensation Plan for Better Retention," where we're talking with two of the top folks at BambooHR, who'll be offering their expert guidance.

If you’re wondering what our Spotify Wrapped listening personalities are, you are in luck. See below. Happy end of November — onward to the last month of the year! — Christine and Haje

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Image Credits: Spotify

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • #SpotifyWrapped: If you were like most of us TechCrunchers today, you were finding out what Spotify had to say about your year-long listening trends. Sarah writes that in addition to the list of your most listened-to songs, Spotify Wrapped 2022 attempted to guess your mood: Christine is "The Maverick" and Haje is "The Time Traveler," in case you wanted to know.
  • More layoffs: Food delivery companies continue to have a rough go of it. DoorDash is the latest to announce it will lay off 1,250 employees in efforts to reduce operating expenses, Aisha reports.
  • It turns out you can have nice things: We enjoyed Mary Ann's well-done story on ResortPass, a company that gives people a chance to lay out by the pool of a five-star resort without having to stay there. The company's recent $26 million cash infusion includes celebrity backers, and most likely five-star pool loungers, Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow.

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Startups and VC

Today, crypto exchange Kraken announced it's letting go of 1,100 staffers. The announcement came from a company blog post, Alex reports. News that Kraken is cutting staff — and therefore costs — is not a surprise, given a generally gloomy macroeconomic climate and even worse climes in crypto land. Speaking of crypto land, Sarah reports that Jack Dorsey's Bitcoin project TBD kills its plan to trademark “Web5.” Meanwhile, the creator of Magic: The Gathering spoke with Devin about why he put a paper game on the blockchain.

Apart from the world of crypto, it was a good day for new funds — Christine reports that New Fare Partners is the latest female-led VC to close first fund, and Catherine has a story today about Iterative launching its second fund targeting Southeast Asia–based startups.

"Native Americans are the most impoverished group in the US, a vestige of intergenerational, systematic disenfranchisement. They are also being hit the hardest by inflation right now, as a result," says Danielle Forward, CEO and co-founder of Natives Rising in an interview with Mike. She is working to change that situation. "While the tech industry is slowing down on hiring, tech jobs remain one of the most economically empowering, in-demand job opportunities of the future, especially for those who desire remote work."

Okay, fine, there's a few more:

Dear Sophie: How should I prepare for my visa interview?

Dear Sophie,

Our startup was just accepted into the winter batch of a top accelerator!

My co-founder with an H-1B just got laid off from Big Tech, but he's OK because his immigration lawyer is filing a change of status to B-1 within the 60-day grace period. I'm nervous though, because I'm outside the U.S. and I don't yet have a B-1/B-2 visitor visa.

How can I ace the visa interview? What type of questions will I be asked? How should I prepare?

— Tenacious in Tobago

Three more from the TC+ team:

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Read More

Dear Sophie: How should I prepare for my visa interview? image

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Big Tech Inc.

In Airbnb's new life, it is playing the role of real estate agent. The vacation home rental giant is now helping renters find an apartment so they can Airbnb it, Ivan writes. Kind of interesting when you consider that Airbnb and its hosts have gotten into trouble in the past for listing properties without permission from landlords, and in some cases the city government.

Speaking of things you're allowed to do in cities, Brian reports that "San Francisco police can now use robots to kill." The city's board of supervisors passed the proposal that will allow robots to be used only "in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives," he writes.

And we have five more for you:

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

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Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Apple announces its 2022 App Store Award winners

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By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Oh hey! While we have you here, grab your calendar — we've got some things for you to add. For the stargazers among us, we’ll be in Los Angeles doing TC Sessions: Space on December 6. And on April 20, 2023, we're heading to Boston for our TC Early Stage festival. Come to either. Come to both. Come to neither. We love you all just the same. But we'd prefer to see your faces in person if we can!

Oh, and did you know it's “Giving Tuesday”? That means it's time to think about which of your favorite causes deserve some of your time or dollars, if you have some of either to spare. — Christine and Haje

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Image Credits: TechCrunch

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • And the winner is…: Okay, all you fans of taking photos of yourself "in the now," no matter where you are. Ivan writes that BeReal won "app of the year" for 2022 in Apple's annual App Store Awards.
  • Order up!: Nigerian restaurant tech company Orda gobbled up $3.4 million and is now perfecting its recipe for a cloud-based operating system that helps digitize Africa's small restaurants. Tage has more.
  • M&A action: Manish reports that India-based fintech CRED is acquiring CreditVidya, a SaaS startup specializing in underwriting first-time borrowers. He reports that this is CRED's latest move to expand its infrastructure and product offerings.

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Startups and VC

The venture market is in the middle of a downturn, but there are still plenty of emerging fund managers. Seedstars announced today it has launched a platform called Seedstars Capital with Swiss-based investment holding company xMultiplied to help new fund managers around the world launch funds and develop their investment firms. The folks behind the initiative told Catherine that "Seedstars' mission is to impact people's lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship."

Earlier today, renowned VC Bill Gurley put together a list of the many "red flags" that VCs should have paid closer attention to when funding FTX, suggesting in a tweet that this summary of warning signs might help keep VCs "out of the investor hurt locker" going forward. All good and well, but in her great piece today, Connie wonders if publishing them now is a little like shouting "Fire!" after everyone is already outside the theater, watching its smoldering remains dissolve into the parking lot. Most of the behaviors that Gurley identified today came to a grinding halt when the market abruptly shifted in spring, and by then, the damage was already done.

And we have five more for you. Can you spot the theme of these puns? Send an @Haje on Twitter if you think you know the answer!

Early-stage founders still have currency: Fundraising in times of greater VC scrutiny

According to a pre-seed report by DocSend, founders took an average of 52 meetings with investors in 2022, compared to 39 last year. At the same time, they are submitting 30% more pitch decks, but VC engagement has fallen 23%.

“Founders may be discouraged in this environment, but they need to remember that they have ‘currency,’ too,” said Russ Heddleston, co-founder and former CEO of DocSend at Dropbox.

DocSend’s report recommends using no more than 50 words per slide. The sections of the deck that address purpose, product and business model are the meat in the sandwich, so founders should spend the most time polishing those points.

“Investors spent the third-highest amount of time reviewing the company purpose slide in pre-seed pitch decks, behind only the business model and product slides,” said Heddleston.

Three more from the TC+ team:

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Read More

Early-stage founders still have currency: Fundraising in times of greater VC scrutiny image

Image Credits: Boris Zhitkov / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc.

A group of our fine folks are covering Amazon's AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas this week and have already posted a number of AWS announcements and updates. If you're looking for recommendations, let us steer you toward:

  • Frederic's story on Amazon DataZone, a new data management service that "can help enterprises catalog, discover, share and — most importantly — govern their data." If you have "Danger Zone" stuck in your head now, you're welcome.
  • Ron's item on AWS Supply Chain, Amazon's answer to "supply chain chaos."
  • Paul's look at the AWS natural language updates to QuickSight Q.
  • Brian's story on the new AWS SimSpace Weaver, which "allows developers to run city-sized simulations at scale in the cloud."

Here's a bit of non-AWS news for ya:

  • It's like your own little Coachella: Ivan's story on the Instafest app went viral into the wee hours of this morning. The app lets you create your own music festival lineup from your Spotify faves.
  • Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water…: India wants to keep its citizens protected from cryptocurrency, but at the same time is poised to introduce a retail digital currency, called e-rupee, starting in December. It's intended to lessen the country's dependency on cash, Manish reports.
  • It's not about the money, money, money: People be shoppin' after Thanksgiving, and Ingrid writes that Cyber Monday online sales hit a record of $11.3 billion, and not just because prices have gone up with inflation — deep discounts and demand for certain products helped.
  • Letting the bird out of the cage: Be careful where you get your COVID-19 news. Natasha L reports that Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID misleading information policy when it comes to virus posts.
  • What about your friends?: Moving over to Mastodon? Don't worry, Sarah has a look at Movetodon, a new tool that helps you find your Twitter friends over there.

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