As a founder or any team builder, diversity is best built at the start. As Taskrabbit founder Leah Solivan learned, procrastination leads to weaker teams and a harder effort later.

We dive into all of her expert tips for builders and founders in the latest episode of our podcast Build Mode right here:

Tech companies are racing to build data centers in space, pitching orbital compute as the next frontier for AI infrastructure, even as the technical and economic realities remain far from clear. Add in OpenAI’s massive $122 billion round and Bluesky’s latest AI backlash, and the message is clear: The future of AI is being shaped as much by ambition and hype as it is by real-world constraints.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane unpack these massive capital bets, user backlash, and off-world compute plans along with Whoop’s major valuation and the literal downfall of robot Olaf.

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
00:20 A humanoid Olaf robot collapses at Disneyland Paris
03:30 OpenAI raises $122B at an $852B valuation
11:30 Whoop lands $575M and bets big on wearable data
18:50 The risks (and value) of personal health data
23:00 Bluesky’s AI feed builder sparks backlash
30:00 Can Bluesky keep growing — and compete with X?
36:30 The race to build data centers in space
44:30 SpaceX, Starlink, and the business of orbital compute
49:30 Outro

For women entering the founding and startup ecosystem, Taskrabbit founder Leah Solivan has a wealth of insights, especially on why you shouldn’t hold yourself back.

Listen in on the latest episode of Build Mode for our full interview with her: