EP 41: FTX Part 2 and the Twitter Breakdown: Aztec’s Jon Wu joins to talk FTX then Former Twitter Director Ryan Sarver & Fintwit Poster Compound248 Break Down Elon’s Takeover, Paid Verification, Advertisers Fleeing and the FTC

The Logan Bartlett Show

Network Effects

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Ryan: If you were twitter and really trying to make change, where would you spend time? You have only a few levers right you have cost he's pulling the cost lever already. He has SaaS product that people don't talk about but is an incredible product sitting under there which probably drives over a hundred percent of what profitability there was at twitter. i think if you start getting reductive in a network effects business it's going to be a downward spiral yeah.

In episode 41 we get a visit from Aztec’s Jon Wu to talk briefly about FTX and then former Twitter Director Ryan Sarver joins along with Fintwit Personality Compound248 to try to explain everything that’s happened with the Twitter take private. From Elon firing half the staff, desperately trying to rehire them, advertisers bailing, and paid verification leading to fake companies and celebrities. As well as explaining why this has gotten so bad so quickly, why Twitter is unique, and what could have been done differently.

(0:00) Intro

(1:54) Welcome Rashad

(4:12) “Verified” Twitter Accounts

(7:36) FTX

(10:08) Rashad’s new podcast

(12:43) Welcome back Jon Wu

(14:32) SBF, FTX, and Alameda

(21:33) What was the fraud?

(24:56) Malicious intent or the tipping point?

(30:49) What was the sentiment of SBF by people in the ecosystem?

(34:10) What’s upcoming to pay attention to?

(36:23) CZ

(38:10) Welcome Ryan Sarver and Compound248

(43:04) Recapping what’s happened since Elon bought Twitter

(45:30) Blue checks

(51:48) Why Twitter is a difficult business

(1:00:30) Brand-based advertising to subscription

(1:16:33) Who will pay for verification?

(1:26:51) Why has Twitter been advertising-based?

(1:32:12) How much was pseudonymity a feature?

(1:34:49) What changes would you focus on?

(1:41:22) Twitter’s FTC order

(1:45:40) Elon shifting blame

Subscribe to No Agenda with @corporashid:

https://open.spotify.com/show/2KHruq3qC0IKm5U9wOIjKZ?si=13bab75351d74c70

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBgv57GHyNgjhl3CBB3XtXp2JylaVKdNs

Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky

Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir

Executive Producer: Josh Machiz

Music: Griff Lawson

🎙 Listen to the show

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg

Follow on Socials

📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/cartoonavatars

🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars

🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars

About the Show

A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise.

Executive Producer: Rashad Assir

Producer: Leah Clapper

Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky

Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

🎙 Listen to the show

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-logan-bartlett-show/id1606770839

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg

🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1

Follow on Socials

📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow

🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow

🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow

About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.