Zombie Startups • TechCrunch

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People leave their jobs for all kinds of reasons, but when the company itself is laying off a highly valued CFO, the exodus can be a sign of a bigger problem.

This was one of the takeaways I found when chatting with Continuum CEO and co-founder Nolan Church about the recent CFO layoffs at OpenSea, Noom and Brex. The founder repeatedly said that we don’t know the exact reason why people leave, but he pointed out that it is a red flag in terms of employment.

He introduced me to the idea of ​​zombie companies, which I appreciate because it’s officially scary season and we love the holiday framework. Zombie companies are basically companies that raised a lot of money during the boom cycle but didn’t earn nearly enough to justify the speculation. The late market is full of them, Church said, and it will take us a while to realize this because many are overbooked and have enough runway to hide behind.

Interesting idea and colors in why some executive shakes sound louder than others. For more ideas, read the full TechCrunch+ column, “Are CFOs OK? (Answer: Yes, but CEOs? That’s complicated).

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about do-it-all startups and Sarah Guo’s new VC fund. If you like this newsletter, do me a quick favor? Forward it to a friend, share it on Twitter, and follow my personal blog for more content.

Do it all

This week I wrote about the Getaway taking on the vacation home ownership market. It’s hard to be in the business of convincing people that they deserve a vacation. Convincing people to share a vacation home and enjoy it at the same time can be deceptively difficult.

Here’s why it’s important: When you’re a race-level startup, the best way to compete against a unicorn competitor is to try to do it all. I’ve seen a lot of startups lately that want the best of both worlds for consumers, and Exit is no different—combining both investment and excitement into one product.

While I’m all for the power of entrepreneurship, I wonder how this map will grow when growth stage startups realize they need to buckle down and focus. In other words, if the behemoths turn inward and focus on what makes them profitable, are early-stage startups going to have some time to run thanks to cushion capital? Food for thought.

Why not a higher judgment?

This week for Fairness, Alex and I interviewed former Greylock partner Sarah Guo about her new company Guilty. She raised $101 million in 10 weeks for her inaugural fund, a process she thought took too long but apparently resonated with many investors. We’ve released key passages for TC+, so read on.

Here’s why it’s important. Sensational AI aside, Guo’s framework for interesting applications in this space comes in handy when she’s trying to figure out what she is and isn’t. Below you will see how she thinks about it.

I think you can take a very clear-eyed view of the landscape and say what is the value to the customer. I think there’s one way to go bottom-up, and to be modality modality, right? We can categorize things. We can generate code. We can do the math. We can create images. And I think that’s interesting. [But] I think the way I tend to see the world is that because I know the client so well, I’m interested in a set of problem domains that I know very well.

First, not a hammer, but a nail. So in security infrastructure, developer tools, productivity applications, innovation applications, general enterprise-like relational database applications that keep records. [and] As a comp bio I think the vertical is large, interesting and the information is affected by this. The reason I think Software 3.0 is the right term is because I’m naming certain categories of software that I’m familiar with, but I fail to see a future where they all exist. [categories]Given the advances in computing and data and algorithms, you don’t get any smarter.

I think there will be entirely new applications of AI that don’t fit into existing categories. Visual generation is not an existing category of software. Self-management is not a software category without AI. So I think there will be net new app categories… but more than anything I’m following the customer.

Image Credits: Sarah Guo

A few notes

TechCrunch Disruption is next week, somehow. Have a safe trip into town, and apologies to all of our folks in San Francisco. for sure You can’t get a table at Che Fico.

It will be a week of explosions, talks, insights and inevitability. Here’s the full agenda and where to get tickets.

Remember you can use the special reader discount code “STARTUPS” for disturbance tickets. We also have specials for those affected by layoffs. If you’re fired, go here to get a free ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt’s Expo.

As you know, I host Fairness, which comes out three times a week and is TC’s longest running podcast. We’ve got some great ones to listen to, including our crypto-focused show on Chain Reaction and our founder-focused show on Found. The TechCrunch Podcast is also unmissable, so keep an eye out for the great demos they’re putting out.

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Same time, same site, next week?

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