TechCrunch

Every startup is a bank — or wants to be

iTunes: Spotify: Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we did something just a little bit new. Kate was in studio at TechCrunch’s SF HQ. Alex was in his dork cave in Providence. And we had a guest in the studio as…

Published

7 years ago

November 11, 2019

CYBER TECH TV

iTunes:
Spotify:

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This week we did something just a little bit new. Kate was in studio at TechCrunch’s SF HQ. Alex was in his dork cave in Providence. And we had a guest in the studio as well. We’ve done similar setups before, but never with video all around. So, welcome to a slightly new chapter in Equity’s production history (all praise to Chris for making it work, video will be out today on TechCrunch’s YouTube page).

Our guest this week was the excellent Sarah Smith from Bain Capital Ventures. Before she turned to writing checks, Smith worked for both Quora and Facebook. Her fun fact? She’s an avid and competitive player of board games.

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8 Comments

Cool Tech Wireless

November 11, 2019 at 2:02 pm

First to comment

Reply
Gaurav Parmar

November 11, 2019 at 3:11 pm

True, a lot of startups are opening a fintech branch

Reply
abu abdullah ashar

November 11, 2019 at 3:41 pm

guys do a podcast on consumer services, why isnt there a amazon of services? $10 trillion market just in USA and no major player !

Reply
- Brandon Reed
  
  November 11, 2019 at 7:02 pm
  
  Amazon is doing services. Task Rabbit is an Amazon of services. Also freelancer sites could be characterized as an Amazon for services.
  
  Reply
- Sebastian Molina
  
  November 11, 2019 at 11:30 pm
  
  Thumbtack, Task Rabbit , Craigslist , Upwork , Fiverr, Amazon Services
  
  Reply
Mario Johnson

November 11, 2019 at 6:11 pm

Go Pack Go!!

Reply
Solidify

November 12, 2019 at 10:22 am

Well no. Technically speaking, the big companies want to have banks but cant due to regulation

Reply
Chris Valiente

November 12, 2019 at 11:41 am

It hit me at 5:34 after the guest stated payments and interesting. Then the title made more sense, well every start up wants to be a bank because banks own the world. #ChaChing

Reply

Science & Technology

Your Q&A Can’t Save a Bad Pitch

Demetri Maxim thought the Q&A was where he could really win investors over. Then he realized: if you lose them during the pitch, they may never ask the questions that let you shine. Hear what Demetri learned from pitching Nephrogen at Startup Battlefield on the latest Build Mode with Dr. Eike Gerhardt.

Published

18 hours ago

September 5, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

Demetri Maxim thought the Q&A was where he could really win investors over.

Then he realized: if you lose them during the pitch, they may never ask the questions that let you shine.

Hear what Demetri learned from pitching Nephrogen at Startup Battlefield on the latest Build Mode with Dr. Eike Gerhardt.

Science & Technology

John Ternus Takes Over Apple

Tim Cook had the unenviable job of following Steve Jobs. Now John Ternus has to follow Cook, and he’s taking over an Apple that looks very different from the one Cook inherited. Equity asks what Ternus’ product background could mean for Apple, and how he’ll balance hardware, services, and the company’s push into AI.

Published

20 hours ago

September 5, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

Tim Cook had the unenviable job of following Steve Jobs. Now John Ternus has to follow Cook, and he’s taking over an Apple that looks very different from the one Cook inherited.

Equity asks what Ternus’ product background could mean for Apple, and how he’ll balance hardware, services, and the company’s push into AI.

Science & Technology

What will Apple’s John Ternus era look like? | Equity Podcast

It’s officially the Ternus era at Apple. Tim Cook stepped down as CEO this week, handing the company to former hardware chief John Ternus, whose first memo promised a “huge launch next week” — timing that puts Apple’s next iPhone event on his desk before he’s even settled in. Cook isn’t going far, though: he’s…

Published

2 days ago

September 4, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

It’s officially the Ternus era at Apple.

Tim Cook stepped down as CEO this week, handing the company to former hardware chief John Ternus, whose first memo promised a “huge launch next week” — timing that puts Apple’s next iPhone event on his desk before he’s even settled in. Cook isn’t going far, though: he’s staying on as executive chairman, focused on the kind of policy relationships that recently turned something as small as a map label into a very public balancing act. All of which raises an obvious question: what does the Ternus era look like, and how much rope will shareholders give him to figure it out?

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec and Sean O’Kane unpack what Ternus is walking into, why he may actually be better positioned to make progress on software than hardware in this new AI era, and more of the week’s news.

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

1:12 Tim Cook steps down & John Ternus takes over as CEO

13:33 Nvidia’s spreading its AI bets

21:58 A big week for robotaxis: Tesla, Waymo, Zoox & Uber

29:09 a16z’s $1.1B “machine age” fund and $8.5B growth fund

32:39 GoPro’s $285M acquisition and pivot to AI/defense

36:34 Outro