Twitter removes live audio chat after CEO joins Space with banned journalists • TechCrunch

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Fridayaaaaaaah! Today we especially enjoyed the Equity podcast team’s 2023 predictions on the future of construction, crypto and AI.

In the meantime, good luck alexander (who mostly takes care of TechCrunch+ these days, but used to write the Daily Crunch and still sometimes moans at our horrible jokes) as he embarks on parenthood and takes a few months off to do everything new parents do.

Oh, and you’re still working on your holiday shopping list? Here’s a great gift idea for yourself and other new and future founders. Get a TC Early Stage 2023 Founder’s Pass for just $75 by registering with this link before 11:59 PM PST on December 31st.

Finally, we’re excited to see another week’s return. It’s time for some well-deserved rest here at Crunch Towers – see you next week! — Christina and haje

TechCrunch’s top 3

• What a tangled web Elon Musk is weaving: Lots of Twitter news to share today, so we’ve put it all together. Twitter’s best treasure came from Paul, who wrote that Twitter pulled its audio feature from the Spaces group following a Spaces where Musk spoke to banned journalists. You can read more about the prohibition of taylor. Meanwhile, it was just one of many actions taken by Chief Twit, including suspending Mastodon’s account, taylor writing.
• Meanwhile in Europe: Natasha L reports that European Union lawmakers have sent a warning to Elon Musk, via Twitter of course, about the sanctions that could be taken after Twitter suspended journalists’ accounts without warning.
• The second time can be the charm: The film “Black Adam”, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has not been embraced by viewers, but HBO Max is now showing it in hopes of a different result, lauren reports.

Startups and VCs

Despite the decrease in investments in startups in 2022, venture capital funds of all sizes are still being raised. However, few are led by Solo General Partners (GPs), and while this trend is on the rise, even fewer are led by women or non-venture capitalists. Anna writing. That makes Nichole Wischoff an exception: her solo venture capital firm Wischoff Ventures closed a second fund of $20 million, a huge increase from its first fund of $5 million. Its goal is to invest in 25-30 US startups at the pre-seed or seed stage.

Five more to take you through the weekend… And if you need a creative boost, this stop-motion animation music video will probably do the trick.

VC Rules Are Changing: Here’s What Founders Should Consider in the New Era

“Growth at any cost” is a fairy tale made possible by the cheap money that has helped venture capitalists set expectations for founders — and each other — for years.

Likewise, everyone needs 18-24 months of trail is a nice motto, but if it takes three times longer to lift a tower than it used to, that might not be good advice anymore.

“These ‘VCisms’ born out of an era of abundance have permeated boardrooms and investor meetings everywhere,” Neotribes Ventures partner Rebecca Mitchem writes in TC+.

In a data-driven article that examines post-money valuations, trade sizes and dilution dating back to 2012, Mitchem says we are now heading into an era of “growth at reasonable costs”.

Founders can continue to water down their ownership by continuing to grow big rounds, or they can decide to grow more slowly, leaving VCs with a bigger stake over time.

“Although it may seem counterintuitive, given the recent market environment, the value of equity for all parties – investors, founders and employees – in this scenario is higher in the more conservative growth scenario” , says Mitchem.

Three others from the TC+ team:

Tech Crunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get a head start. You can register here. Use code “DC” to get 15% off an annual subscription!

Big Tech inc.

Meta is doing a lot of closings lately. Facebook’s parent company recently shut down its live shopping feature in October, and now Aisha writes that he is closing his Super app in February. If you’re unfamiliar, she writes that it was an app originally created to provide “a virtual dating experience similar to what you get at a real-life event like VidCon or Comic-Con.” We guess it didn’t go as well as they would have liked…

And we have five more for you: