Fact-Checking Mark Rober, and the Fall of TechCrunch | E2101

Today’s show: Jason, Alex, and Lon break down a subreddit question: A founder builds 100% of the product, is promised equity—and now he’s being pushed out. We break down exactly what he should do next. Plus, YouTuber Mark Rober’s viral Tesla test gets fact-checked by a small creator, and the results don’t look great for Mark. Finally, TechCrunch gets quietly sold to Regent in what looks like a fire sale. Is this the end of an era for tech media?

Timestamps:

(0:00) Episode Teaser(1:25) Jason's memories of Tony Hsieh

(4:09) High stakes poker stories with Tony Hsieh

(7:28) Reflecting on joy and fun in life

(9:45) Atlassian - Head to ⁠https://www.⁠⁠atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.(11:46) Founder question from Reddit

(20:12) Fidelity Private Shares℠ - Visit ⁠https://fidelityprivateshares.com⁠! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.

(21:52) Subreddit question: Stealth vs. building in public(27:33) Update: Mark Rober's Looney Tunes wall experiment

(31:21) Lemon.io - Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire

(37:50) Lessons from the Mark Rober experiment

(40:24) The future of tech journalism and subscription models

(47:34) Jason’s idea for a gadget museum

(50:12) Updates on CoreWeave and Klarna IPOs

(51:43) Bipartisan bill to amend Section 230

(56:29) Algorithms and their impact on Section 230

(59:00) Global perspectives on online speech and anonymity

(1:00:00) Podcast closing and call for social media engagement

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Thank you to our partners:

(9:45) Atlassian - Head to ⁠https://www.⁠⁠atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months.

(20:12) Fidelity Private Shares℠ - Visit ⁠https://fidelityprivateshares.com⁠! Mention our podcast and receive 20% off your first-year paid subscription.

(31:21) Lemon.io - Get $2000 off your first hire at http://lemon.io/hire

Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman,