Startup shutdowns and AI showdowns: The 2023 chronicles

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Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is the first of a two-part series that we built for you going back over critical themes from 2023. It was a very, very busy year in the worlds of technology, startups and venture capital — so busy that we asked for your 2023 in a headline, and you delivered!

In Part 1, Mary Ann and Alex dug into a host of key themes:

• Venture capital in 2023: The numbers started off the year poor, but got a bit better as time went along. In part because year-over-year comps became less onerous as we got deeper into the year thanks to 2022’s own results having a downward tilt. Still, there’s a lot of capital in the market so we are closing out the year far from a freeze.
• Elsewhere in venture? California’s new diversity reporting rule made an appearance, we discussed which stage of startups are struggling the most and even riffed on some new fintech unicorns.
• Then there was fintech in 2023: Despite a hot start to M&A in the fintech realm to start the year, deals slowed as the year went on. Though we did see a handful of critical transactions. Alex brought up some fintech-adjacent deals that he felt were notable as well, to round out our recap.
• Then we had to touch on the creator economy in 2023: Recall that this was the year we saw the writer’s strike, the mess at Reddit, the brouhaha at Twitch and the rise of several Twitter alts. Busy time for creators, even if the hopes of yesteryear that the middle class of creatordom would expand more rapidly than it has.
• And then there was the return of key-person syndrome, which we’ll explain more on the show!

In Part 2 — coming soon! — we brought in several TechCrunch experts to help us get even deeper on the SBF trial and crypto more generally, the OpenAI fracas and where that technology is today and more. Stay close to Equity! We have a lot planned for you.